Normal: The Octo Corp Chronicles
by 100-YardStare
Summary: Working for Dave and living life in general just got a little weirder. Not only does Dave have North Wind constantly on his tail, but now there are debts to be paid, and a reputation to uphold. Lo and behold! More crazy ass adventures with Dave and I as we take on the world, and I continue to try and keep my sanity. (Sequel to "Normal")
1. Debt of Terror!

_STOP!_

 _Do not proceed reading this story unless you have read "Normal". "Normal: The Octo Corp Chronicles" is a direct sequel to "Normal", so I'd highly advise going back to look at that, or else this story won't make any sense whatsoever._

 _Anyways, other than that, I really hope you guys enjoy the sequel! Things are going to get cray-cray, as usual._

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

It took me a while, but I've finally accepted it. I am not a Human Resource Manager.

 _"What?"_ I bet you're thinking. _"How could you say that when you went to college specifically to become a HR Manager?"_

The thing about life is that it's highly likely things will not end up the way you've planned. I may have gone to college initially to be an HR Manager, but that's not what I became. That's not what I am. More specifically, if there were a major in—I don't know really— _dealing with crazy ass octopuses_ , then that would be the job title for me. Once you dive into adulthood, specifically, I'm going to be honest right now—it's random as hell. You seriously never know what's going to happen to you. Take me for example. I was a regular person, doing regular, normal things, and I ended up finding a snow globe in a damn public bathroom and look where I ended up! I'm living with a bunch of freaking octopuses! One, I'd like to emphasize, that I actually ended up liking. And when I say _liking_ , I'm not just saying, "Oh Dave is super chill, he's my boss," I actually mean that he's—

 _Oh my God, I don't think I still can say it out loud without questioning my sanity_.

Well, Dave and I are kind of a thing now. I'm sure that was obvious before, but I just want repeat it out loud. Saying things out loud constantly helps to remind me that I'm not in fact, in a dream world, and I am very much conscious and breathing. To put it simply, it's kinda like what that little kid that went to the dentist asks: " _Is this real life_ "? Only I'm not high.

Anyway, beyond me spending the last few months contemplating on where I've ended up, things have been fairly quiet. Octo Corp is up and running; there's that much. Dave had a new submarine built and other much needed contraptions made with the help of his new resource partner. Dave has yet to tell me who the hell this 'resources partner' actually is, and how on earth he found someone who is allowing him to buy weird, overly complicated material, and then use that material to build submarines and shit, but whatever. Asking too many questions hurts my head anyway, and I'm sure I'll find out sooner or later.

Taking it easy is my specialty though. It feels nice when the majority of all the bullshit you have to put up with on a daily basis dissipates, and it feels like every breath you take is crisp and fresh like an autumn morning. Kinda like how it was then, as I sat on a bench in Central Park, all bundled in my favorite sweater and boots. In Texas, there was no such thing as a chill October. It was virtually nonexistent. In New York the lows around the time were a nice and fresh high 40 to low 50 degrees. In Houston, that temperature was in the 60's and 70's, but then that would skyrocket to the 90's later in the day anyway. It's like summer doesn't know when to freaking leave in Texas. But here? Nah, there wasn't any of that bull. Summer was gone, and my favorite time of year had been on a roll. Good ol' October 31 even marked the official beginning of my season. Halloween all the way until after Christmas was the jam. _Hellz yeah._

I remember vividly sitting on a bench in the park, watching as the orange, red, and yellow leaves fell from the high trees and onto the sidewalk in front of me. At my hands was a warm cup of hot chocolate, above the cup itself steam rising into the cool air and filling my nostrils with its warm, chocolatey goodness. Sitting right next to me, in his disguise, was Dave. He was looking around constantly, although his glances not quite mirroring my own in that sense of relaxation. He seemed to be having another off day, but because he had taken advantage of most of the rebuilding process within the last few months I couldn't particularly blame him. Business was hard, no matter what you did.

"You doing all right?" I asked, momentarily taking my focus off my hot chocolate and the surrounding fall scenery to look at him. "You haven't said too much."

"I hate the squirrels out here," Dave sneered. "Aren't they supposed to be hibernating or something already?"

I looked from Dave and around the park again, this time noticing a couple of squirrels grab hold of a few fallen acorns and stuff them somewhere in the ground. "They're just doing their thing; they'll probably sleep soon once mid to late November comes around." I paused for a second, contemplating on this and ending up raising a brow. "Why are you…? I don't know, pissed at the damn squirrels?"

Dave was silent. I watched him as he started twiddling his fingers together, although his expression, on the other hand, still holding onto that grouchiness that would surface every now and again.

"Don't tell me you're jealous of the squirrels, Dave." I signed a little bit upon saying this out loud, but I would only draw in another breath afterward as if in preparation to laugh. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"I hate the squirrels; what's wrong with that?" Dave responded, a bit bitterly, but I could tell he was trying to come out of whatever irritable state he was in.

"You hate every cute animal," I acknowledged, "but you seriously need to chill out. It's not like all these people are paying attention to those things anyway. Besides, I didn't even notice them until you pointed them out."

He was still quiet. Regardless of what happened earlier this summer with the penguins and his vows to stop his revenge, the hatred he had for them, along with literally any cute animal ever, hadn't gone away. I don't think it ever would. It was only recently, however, that I found myself having to reassure him that everything would be okay, and in fact those cute little animals weren't going to do anything to him.

"You know who I think is cute?" I said aloud, managing to smile largely enough to contrast his pouting.

"Who?" Dave responded.

"You know who," I teased.

"I don't know." Dave was pretty persistent with his attempts to remain a pouty child, but I continued onward anyway with my attempts to cheer him up.

"You, dumbass, you're the cute one." I chuckled after that. "And cool too."

He reluctantly turned his head towards me, but when he did I saw that he finally had a smile on his face. That always worked; telling him he was cute or cool.

"Really?" he asked, sort of wistfully. "I don't know about cute…but—"

"Don't deny it, doofus, you're the coolest and cutest…errr, person here, so don't act like you don't know any better." I nudged his arm. "But since you're talking now, I wanted to go ahead and ask if that Halloween thing in the park was still going on?"

"Yeah, they do it every year for the kids," Dave said. "Although through my time living in the Central Park Zoo I have often seen adults dress up too."

"Hell yeah, I can't wait to show off my Jedi costume." I grew serious for a moment as I stared back at my hot chocolate. "And with you hanging out with me as a Star Trek red coat we will probably piss off a lot of nerds." I couldn't help but smile after saying that. I remember vividly as a teenager when my longtime friend Jessica and I went to the mall in costume, I being the Star Wars gal and her being the Treky. Even way back when and even all the way until now, I didn't understand the gigantic battle between the fandoms. Both franchises had their own great qualities so hearing people troll about which one was better always confused me. But, at least I could take humor in watching them squirm.

"For Comicpalooza, or heck, the San Francisco Comic Con, we should totally go DC and Marvel. I could revamp my Wonder Woman costume. You'd make a good Doc Ock."

"What? Who's that?" Dave asked.

"Oh my God, you have a lot to learn," I mused, then finally took a sip of my drink.

. . . . . . .

Once dusk came around it only got colder outside. Feeling the instant drop to the 40's was bliss to me as we came up to the festival, especially since I was all cozy in my legit Jedi robes. A lot of adults weren't dressed up (lame asses) but the ones that were had really good costumes. Even the little kids running around had some believable outfits on. A lot of the little girls dressed as Disney princesses while most of the boys were superheroes. The costumes out of the children that stuck out, however, were the homemade ones. There were a few witches and wizards, zombies and mummies, even a believable looking Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice walking around. The parents that decided NOT to be lame actually did themes with the kids, my favorite being a mother and father dressed as Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun from _Wreck-It Ralph_ , while their little girl was dressed as Vanellope.

Ah, although Halloween costumes were always fun to see I couldn't wait to show Dave what a comic convention looked like. But for now, I'd need to show him how Halloween was really done. I'd imagine throughout his time revenging he'd have no idea what this holiday was like. He might have watched it happen for a little while those many years ago during his days in the zoo, but he never was a part of it. I couldn't wait to take him into the mirror maze or the scary haunted houses set up around the park. I also couldn't help but contemplate whether or not he has even tried pumpkin pie? HOLY SHIT WHAT IF HE HADN'T? I didn't even think about that.

My chances to quickly get to joining the Halloween fun was quickly diminished, however. Even in costume, people recognized us. I guess it was because he wasn't wearing the fake ass mustache.

"Whoa, Dr. Brine! It's really cool to see you out here! Are you here to support the children? Perhaps give a speech of some kind?" one random dude asked.

 _Hell no, he was here because I'm a huge nerd and like to freaking cosplay and do Halloweenie shit, not for the damn kids!_

"I suppose I could," Dave mused, as he reached around and scratched his head. "I'm sure a speech wouldn't entice the children, though."

"You're in luck!" the dude cried cheerfully. "I happen to be the manager of the festival. We have a Frankenstein setup over there. You could actually use the lab stage to show the kids something cool?"

"Sure," Dave smiled. I could tell he liked the opportunity. Getting to show off fancy science tricks to a bunch of kids? That's Dave for you. I, on the other hand, really wanted to go fart around and be a child myself, but yet again, I had to act like an _adult_ , because I was expected to be for being the "fiancée" to a renowned geneticist. _Pffttt_ _._

"Mrs. Brine, it would really be an honor if you joined Dr. Brine on stage. I think the kids would get a kick out of seeing you too, since you're kinda a hit with the kiddos yourself, being a robot fighting person and all." People were always so excited when they saw us that they never referred to me by my actual name.

"Heh, yeahhh," I smiled a little, but I was still irritated. I tried staying calm for the sake of catering, yet again, to the public, and followed the manager along with Dave to the Frankenstein area he had spoken about.

The small section located on a slight elevated stage was actually pretty cool. Looking like it came straight from a movie set; it had the complex background, some desks and different sorts of scientific equipment placed on top of it, and even a dummy set on a table to the side, with a white cloth draped over it to make it look like the actual Frankenstein's monster.

"I can have some stuff brought out for you to work with," the manager said. "We had some dry ice laying around for the fog effects under the pavilion and the attractions, along with other household chemicals, but I'm sure you can do something cooler with that."

Dave nodded casually, sending off the manager to quickly go retrieve some items for him to use. Even after he left, however, people started to take notice. A little bit at a time, festival goers surrounded the front of the stage to look excitedly up at Dave and I. I tried deterring my attention, nonetheless, to the decorations around me instead of looking at the people below. Despite how I was already used to being a spectacle, more or less, didn't mean I liked the attention. I mean, don't get me wrong, I liked _some_ attention. I didn't freaking cosplay as a Jedi, carrying around my custom movie quality lightsaber, so nobody could see me. How I was used to this attention was only in small chunks. Little meetings with other people here and there. Not giant crowds.

At the corner of my eye I saw the manager, along with a few volunteers, come onto the stage, bringing with them the items for Dave to use in his little show. Again, I huffed with irritation, although only mildly for the sake of not looking like a pouty child myself. I paid attention for only a brief time as they started sorting everything out and prepared Dave for the show until someone in the audience caught my attention.

"AHHHH!" Yet again, to my surprise, it was Steven, fangirling as usual, only this time his nerdiness escalating ten times over while he was wearing a Ghostbusters costume. He was trying so hard to not to start crying or something. "KAILEY—" He exhaled loudly, although he caught himself and tried lowering his voice to not cause attention. "Kailey!" Steven said a little softer that time. "Oi, it's me! Ahhh!"

"What are you doing here?" I mouthed, although the statement ended up coming airily from my throat.

Steven heard me, obviously, but he seemed too excited to properly respond. He ended up pointing at Dave, steering my attention from himself and back to the stage, where I saw that everything was finally green lit and prepared to go. Dave put on a little headset, and within a matter of seconds his voice was loudly sounding from some surrounding speakers.

"Well then, this was unexpected," Dave admitted, although he continued to wear his trademark wide and happy grin on his face. "What do you say, civilians? Would you like to see the doctor in action?"

The crowd went wild. I had no idea that a family event like this could get so rowdy, but it did. Kids and adults alike, ridiculous as they looked fangirling in costume, (along with Steven, the nerd), jumped and clapped, sending all their adoration towards the stage. Dave was soaking it in, per the norm.

Just as the crowd's cheers started dying down a bit, Dave pulled a large jack-o-lantern onto the table in front of him. The carving depicted the typical scary pumpkin-face, although for the time being it was not lit. Instead, Dave pulled out a few other items, placed them into the pumpkin head, and then lit a match. He hesitated, however, as the flame ignited on the stem, causing the children in the crowd to awe in anticipation.

"Do you know that fire can come in different colors? In fact, the typical yellow, red, and orange flames you see in your fireplace, or on this tiny match even, is filled with more color than you think. It all depends on what the fire consumes, or to put it simply, what you burn. That, or…" he paused for a moment, as his gaze met the children in the audience. He chuckled a little bit before he continued. "…that, or this pumpkin is actually haunted, because I can almost guarantee you've never lit a jack-o-lantern like this before."

Dave finally set the match into the head of the pumpkin, it's spark soon creating a bright green flame which also initially spilled from the pumpkin's triangle shaped eyes and jagged teeth. Because of the fires ominous color, this caused the little kids to shout with awe. Right afterwards, even the adults started laughing and applauding with glee. I could distinctly hear Steven making weird noises from the crowd mostly, randomly a shout of a loud "OH MY GOD!" falling from Steven's mouth.

The green fire was really cool. Don't get me wrong. But why on earth was Steven freaking out so badly about this? He was an engineering and physics major, so I'd assume he'd know how elementary chemistry worked. I sucked really badly at chemistry and yet I could tell what was going on, but regardless, Steven still acted amazed.

As the crowd clapped and Dave started moving onto another experiment, Steven waved his arms around, trying to get my attention. I stood there only for a few moments, before his hyperness got the better of me and got me off the stage and into the back of the crowd with him.

"Steven, what are you doing here?! What do you want?" I hissed loudly, attempting to get my voice across to him through all the cheers.

"Oi, I'm so glad to see you again!" Steven happily and unexpectedly took me into an embrace. Wide-eyed, I sat in his hug for a while before he finally pulled away and resumed smiling at me. "Didn't I tell you? I don't think I did, but—oh well, you're going to know now! Remember when you saw me earlier this summer? When you know, Dr. Brine announced you were his fiancée?"

"Yes, how could I forget," I answered, with a tid bit of sarcasm escaping me.

"Well, admittedly I wasn't here just to see the opening of Octo Corp. That was just the cherry on top. I actually came to New York to start my doctorate program. I got into Princeton University and into their engineering program, and started this Fall semester! Can't you believe that? I'm staying with a relative that works in between New York and Princeton, so I kinda shuffle between here and there."

"No way!" I gasped. I suddenly felt myself growing really happy. I practically grew up alongside Steven during our time working on our Bachelors programs, so it was so much fun to see him finally going off and doing what he did best. Being proud of a friend is definitely up there with being proud of family, which he practically was. "Steven, I'm so glad you're starting your doctorate!" I chuckled nervously, finding myself blushing briefly. "You're a lot braver than I could have ever been, going off alone like that on your own terms."

"Brave? Don't go talking about me being the brave one now. Have you bloody forgotten all you've done?" His excitement died down, just for a bit, to exchange his own fondness for me.

"You're sweet," I said. "If only I could say my _brother_ got into Princeton though. I guess you'll have to do."

"He's smart; he'll find his way." Steven smiled. He turned his attention from me afterwards to look up at Dave, who was still in the process of entertaining the crowd. As excited as he was to see Dr. Brine, who was basically his hero, I was surprised to see how he turned from that spectacle and back to me. "Hey, while Dr. Brine is busy with the crowd, you wanna hang out? We can go into that haunted mirror maze!"

"Well, I…" I stuttered. I wasn't sure. I ended up looking right back up at Dave, who seemed to be carried away with what he was doing. I didn't want to leave him, but at the same time I wasn't too keen on standing up on that stage doing practically nothing. "I guess that will be fine," I finally answered.

Before I could start walking, Steven ended up pulling me along. Also, before I could even manage to bring anything else up, Steven starting flapping his mouth again.

"So tell me, where did you get the costume?" Steven asked as he pulled me along.

"A friend made it for me a while back. That girl we met at one of the cons a few years back?"

"Oh! Her! Yeah, I remember her; she was also the one that made your Princess Belle cosplay. Gotta hand it to her, she's a brilliant seamstress."

"And of course, I told you where I got the lightsaber from." I could help but smile that time. I remember vividly how I got the thing. "Those cons were great; I don't think there wasn't anything they didn't have."

"You're telling me!" Steven laughed. "I got a lot of tips from that one guy that built armored costumes. See this?" He gestured to his Ghost Vacuum. "Made it myself. I used an actual vacuum mechanism and restructured it into this. Works and everything! Although I can't say it will actually suck up ghosts."

"Ha! Wow." I rolled my eyes, but smiled as I did so. "You're so good at that stuff, why don't you make me that Samus Varia suit I always wanted?"

"I could, you know!" Steven smiled. "But for right now… let's focus on that haunted mirror maze. Here, I'll give you a head start, Jedi." Being the dork he was, he instantly started getting into character. "Force ghosts are in there! But not just any Force ghosts: malevolent Sith spirits lurk in there! The dark side, there is!" He pushed me forward. "Go in, quick! I'll have your back. Together we'll vanquish the evil ghost!"

"What the hell, Steven!" I yelled, flailing my arms around as he pushed me towards the entrance of the creepy mirror maze.

"Go! The force beckons you! You find the source of the evil within and I'll come find you and suck up the ghost!"

"You're a freaking geek, you know that!?"

"I said GO!"

"Ahhh!" I finally gave in and ended up flying into the entrance with his last push. I didn't even know where to start. The mirror maze would have been difficult to navigate as it was alone, but since this was supposed to be a "haunted and spooky" maze, the fog, along with the occasional pale white lights that flickered, triggering a thunder and lightning sequence, made it all the harder to navigate. In the speakers there were also some creepy moans and other monster sounds, so of course I was a little rattled. "Don't you dare do anything stupid, Steven, or I swear I'll swing this lightsaber right on your face!"

. . . . . . .

He did it anyway. Steven actually failed to heed my warning of sneaking up on me, so he ended up getting hit. I don't know what to say. It's just a regular reaction from me! If I get startled enough, or angry enough, a sort of fight or flight response kicks in and it's almost always the fight response. Nobody, not even my own father, has escaped this inevitability.

"That hurt," Steven huffed again, as we sat to the side of the large pavilion further into the festival grounds. There were lights spinning around with colors of green, purple and orange in unison to the song _Ghost_ by Mystery Skulls.

There were a few people dancing, although for the most part everyone was up and about elsewhere, watching and investing their time in the other, more kid-directed attractions. But I suppose it was better that way. I was tired of the crowds anyway, and I'm sure that Steven didn't want to be pushed around by other people right now, considering his left cheek was red and implanted with a thick line, indicating quite noticeably what exactly hit him.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "Look, can I get you something? They're selling some food over there."

"No," Steven huffed.

"Are you sure? They have candy corn."

Steven looked up from the floor, unable to stop another goofy smile from filling his expression. "Candy corn?" He asked.

"Yes, candy corn," I repeated. "I'll go get you some. Do you want it in the Halloween souvenir cup too?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll get you candy corn in the souvenir cup." I sat up then, leaving Steven alone at the benches and ventured across the pavilion to a stand that was selling an assortment of sweets. A bunch of kids had ordered the same thing, to their parent's guidance, and ended up running off with the kiddy souvenir cup too. It really didn't take the guy at the counter long to understand what I wanted, and I paid him the 2.50 then stuffed the change back into my robes, balancing the cup of candy in my other hand. However, as I shuffled around to get everything in in order to prepare myself for the venture back across the pavilion, I heard an exaggerated grunt behind me.

"Kailey." It was Dave. "Where were you?"

I turned around, a penny ending up falling onto the floor regardless of my attempts to keep everything on my person balanced, and looked up at Dave. He wasn't angry, per se, but he was definitely not in a good mood.

"I… well, went to hang out with Steven."

"I know that," Dave sighed. "But why?"

"You were… busy," I stuttered. I mean, I wasn't lying. He _was_ busy, doing his own thing. The best I could have done was stand aside and watch him, but regardless of what that manager told me, everyone still loved the famous "Dr. Brine" more. I would have just been in the way.

"Why would you hang out with _him_?" Dave gestured quickly to Steven from across the way.

"He's my friend," I answered genuinely. "Look, you were busy and Steven was here, so I figured I'd hang out with him while you were doing your thing; no big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Dave scoffed.

"Yes, not a big deal! And since you're finished with your science show, we can start doing what we came here to do!"

"Not with him," Dave stated. "He needs to go elsewhere."

"But why?"

" _Because_ _!_ "

I had to stop there. As much as I thought this was an okay thing, having hung out with my friend and all, I realized that Dave was apparently not taking it very well. For what reason? Lord knows why. I was a little stunned to be honest—that weird sunken chest feeling ended up filling my ribcage momentarily, but I ended up getting myself together enough to confront this in a mature manner.

"I'm sorry I ran off," I apologized. "I didn't know you needed me."

"It's not that…" Dave said, giving off another deep breath as he shifted his eyes towards Steven from across the pavilion and back to me. It was from this simple thing, just how he acted and constantly moved his attention back to Steven momentarily, that I understood what was going on.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" I asked.

He didn't answer. Not at first at least. I could see him contemplating deeply as he tried to sort through his emotions. "Well, of course I am," he finally stated. "I can see that he understands your interests. I'm sure he knows all about _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ , and gets all your jokes and puns in general… I'm just…"

"Dave—" I had to stop myself though, since we were technically in public. "I mean, _Octavius_. Look, that doesn't matter. It never has. Steven is my friend, so of course he's going to like some of the same things I like. But you, _you're the one I'm in love with_." I felt myself turn red, quickly this causing myself to lose track of what I was saying, although once Dave looked back at me I found my words. "No cute animal or nerdy friend is ever going to change that."

"Really?" he asked sincerely. Those butterflies ended up replacing the sunken feeling my chest.

"Yeah, _really_ …" I said.

"Oh, I see what's going on…" Suddenly, what personal moment Dave and I were having shattered at the sound of Steven's voice. We both turned around to see him staring at us, although with a goofy smile glued to his face. After a few seconds he started squeeing, ever so softly.

"Do you mind?" I asked.

I'm here for my souvenir cup you promised me, take your time."

"Just take it!" I shoved it outward, allowing Steven to take it from me.

For a second, he stood there, dipping his hand into the cup with a bunch of spoopy ghosts on it, and slowly ate some of the candy corn.

"I SAID GET LOST!" I yelled. I wasn't being mean, truly. And Steven understood that. But seriously, I was just in a bad situation to begin with. With Dr. Brine being his hero and I being his friend and all. If I could put it more simply it was like actually being shipped, only I wasn't a character, and yet was being shipped with Dave anyway. If that makes sense? Yeah, whatever.

Steven ended up chuckling. "Take it easy, Kailey! I'll be off now; you two have fun," he said. After that he gave us a wave farewell and walked off, leaving us alone on the pavilion and under the multicolored lights.

"So," I resumed, attempting to deter my initial feelings from before. "I was wondering…"

"Wondering what?" Dave asked, his rather down state of mind having lit up instantly.

"Have you actually tried pumpkin pie before?"

"No, I haven't,"

And do you want to enter that couple's costume contest with me?"

"Anything, if it's with you."

"Good." Finally, we were going to do what we came here to do. Spend Halloween together.

. . . . . . .

Lo and behold, we ended up winning first place. _Of course_ we freaking won first place. The instant we went on stage the crowd that had come for the costume contest went crazy. Surprisingly, nobody trolled us for the whole Star Trek/Star Wars thing we had going, so that was the only disappointment about this whole thing. Whatever, it was fun, and we had pumpkin pie afterwards, which was just another highlight of the night. Although I have to admit the pie wasn't nearly as good as my mom's, but he'd have a chance to try that come Thanksgiving dinner later the following month.

We were back in the Octo Corp building by then, only instead of the busy hustling of Dave's henchmen going through the hallways and working the controls on the computers, it was quiet. Dave had given the henchmen a night off, so they must have been elsewhere in the building or back at the shores in the submarine.

Dave turned on some of the lights in the large room we were in, setting illumination onto a big flat screen monitor and its controls to the left. It was kind of weird, seeing this room without the busy movement of working henchmen, or even the soft glow of the green Medusa Serum Dave had been working on for so long. Instead it was empty, quiet, but not necessarily devoid. It was kind of nice, really.

"So, what's the plan for the upcoming week?" I asked. This in itself was loud, considering my voice bounced around in echoes throughout the wide and tall room. It was sort of ominous even, despite that I knew well that I only felt this way because it was Halloween night. The scariest thing I saw was Steven sneaking up on me in that mirror maze, so I figured nothing could quite top that.

"Nothing big planned," Dave admitted. "My henchmen are taking care of cleaning up the submarine after construction."

"Well, in that case maybe we might as well do our own thing. I think tonight's been the only night in like… weeks since we've done something that has nothing to do with work."

"Yeah, I know… it's just taken a while with this entire resource hunt."

"Speaking of, how is all that going? What company are you getting help from?"

Dave, again, was mute.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," I said. "Whoever helped to give you stuff to rebuild the submarine and all did a really good job."

"I would really rather not talk about it," Dave admitted.

"But why?" I could help but ask. "Is it about having to find someone other than Mr. Issa? I'm sure he'd understand."

Before Dave could reason with me what he had yet to even tell me, the already dim lights flickered, dipping us into a brief wave of darkness. After that, the big computer monitor to the side actually turned on by itself, and fell into an on and off static state, filling the once quiet room with white noise.

I don't why, but I screamed. The scream was brief, but regardless all my focus was suddenly on the damned static computer screen. I guess I was already in that "spooky" state-of-mind so that must have caused my random scare. It was probably just a power outage or something. No big deal.

"Hyakkk—Hyaakkhaha! Hyaha—Hahaykkhakk!" A weird series of laughter suddenly started hiccupping along with the random static. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as yet again, I put full forced effort to looking directly at the computer monitor. As I laid my eyes on the static, and with every wave of energy the signal made to produce an actual image, the computer monitor finally received the message it had been receiving.

Within a blink of an eye, the static ceased, and on the computer screen was… _a dolphin_ _?_ Was I like, tripping out here? Because there was a freaking dolphin on the computer screen. The most bizarre thing about him was one of his eyes was like a damned cybernetic or something. Also the dolphin was on _land_? Inside somewhere? I had no idea what the ever living shit was happening.

"Hyakkaaaahhaakka!" The dolphin on the other line resumed laughing for a moment longer, before he gathered himself and started talking. "Dave the octopus!" he called out. "So I finally am able to get through to you! I'll admit, I had to hack your computers to actually get you to talk to me, but here I am! Have you forgotten our little deal? Nice human costume, by the way."

"I'm not talking to you!" Dave huffed, turning around irritably away from the screen as he wrapped both his 'arms' around himself.

"You're joking, right?" the dolphin asked, his tone changing from amusement to seriousness in a matter of moments. "Don't you dare turn your back on me! We had a deal, and it's a deal that I won't soon forget. Simply turning your back on your problems isn't going to solve anything!"

"Okayyy, so seriously, what's the deal, yo?" My question seemed to slip out uncontrollably. I normally would keep my mouth shut in a situation like this but it was so confusing that I ended up letting my question out regardless.

"Yes, what's the deal, _yo_?" The Dolphin mimicked me sarcastically, though redirected the sentence at Dave. "You should listen to your human assistant. Although from what I've seen you treat her more as your pet than an actual slave. And you have the nerve to call yourself a mastermind. Not to mention you gave up on your plans to take vengeance on the _pengyuins_. Pathetic, really."

"Real big talk coming from someone who lost to them on multiple occasions," Dave sneered. "And should I also bring up the time they erased your memory, using your _own_ device, for some time, and you started referring to yourself as 'Flippy'."

"How do you—never mind! It doesn't matter, hypocrite! I suggest you listen to me right now, Dave! You owe me big for the help I have lent you in getting you the materials needed to rebuild your tech. Either you pay me the 26 billion dollars by the end of the following month, or I will personally come to take back my payment myself." He paused only to eye us both intensely before he let out his one-liner towards Dave before ending the call.

"By the way, _red coats die first, bitch_."

And to think I was just starting to be more relaxed in my situation. Oh well.


	2. Mission Statement

**Chapter 2**

" _26 billion dollars!?_ " I yelled. "IS THIS SOME SORT OF JOKE?"

"Kailey, shhh, please keep your voice down," Dave responded softly, although it wouldn't quite handle the wave of rage I was about to spill at him.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH 26 BILLION DOLLARS IS OR ARE YOU JUST TOO DENSE TO CARE?!"

"Dearest, I don't think you realize how much stuff costs. It takes a lot to rebuild things, let alone a submarine and all the machines I need up and running to defend us from North Wind."

"Of course I know how much shit costs!" I blasted again. "Just—just freaking pay the Goddamn dolphin back!"

"See, that's where you're wrong," Dave responded, his attempts at being civil changing to that of amusement. "I'm not going to pay him back."

"Why!?"

"He's a menace! You have no idea what kind of _filth_ he is!"

"Wait a second…" I stopped yelling, only to eye him carefully. "You don't want to pay him back because he's what you consider _cute_ , isn't it?" I couldn't hold it back anymore. "WHO THE HELL CARES IF HE'S CUTE OR NOT. FREAKING FLIPPY CAN GO FLIP OFF A DAMNED KIDDY POOL AND INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC, CHRIST!"

"He calls himself Dr. Blowhole," Dave corrected, again his voice exceptionally calm compared to mine. "And it's not just because he's cute and humans love his kind for _no real good reason_ _._ "

In the back of my mind I was trying to decide now whether or not this entire 'cute animal' hatred was just a form of racism.

"Enlighten me, Dave. What could possibly be reason enough for you to not pay back someone you owe?"

"It's just… GAHH!" Dave threw all his tentacles into the air. "I don't need to explain myself! I hate him and that's all that matters! Besides," he muted himself briefly to clear his throat; his attempts to calm himself down I guess. "I also, don't really have… well, enough money to actually pay him back."

"You _what_ _?_ " I growled.

"Like I said, it takes a lot of money to be me. Running Octo Corp is expensive as it is!"

I blinked my eyes a few times, sometimes one eyelid falling before the other, as one or the other attempted to twitch in between my blinking. I literally could not believe my ears. This was not happening. I was _not_ about to be dragged into another conflict.

Before I could fully freak out, I reasoned with myself silently, and then took a big, deep breath. "Okay… whatever. This is fine. We can work through this. I mean, he's only a dolphin; how much damage could he possibly do?" I had to stop myself there because the last time I thought like that I ended up getting kidnapped by a freaking wolf, a polar bear, an owl, and a baby seal. "But we can do this. We just have to come up with a solution to get the money."

"And how do you suggest that?" Dave asked, his brow rising in question.

"We have a well renowned company on our hands, you idiot!" I was trying to reason the best I could with him now. I managed to walk up towards him, as if being closer to him could make my point get through to him easier. "Not to mention you have all the things you need to _make_ money!"

"What are you saying?" Dave was drawing a blank.

" _I'm saying_ , put that big brain of yours to work! The world is literally in your hands… err, tentacles. Those fans of yours will buy anything from you as long as it's affordable and useful."

"You're absolutely right!" Dave cheered. His large crooked-toothed grin resumed immediately. "Why didn't I think of this sooner? Of course! Just invent something and sell it to the public!"

"That's the spirit!" I clapped. "No, go get to work on inventing something. I'll need to look into conferences that may help with the publicity and try and find a date for us to attend."

"Ah, I don't know what I'd do without you, dearest," Dave sighed, before he turned around to start on a new product in his lab.

"I'm sure," I responded, and got to work.

. . . . . . .

It had been a few hours since I last saw Dave. In between my intensive internet research, I heard a bunch of bangs and clangs from the laboratory area, reason enough leading to it being Dave working on his new invention. I didn't have any doubt in my mind that he couldn't come up with something that could sell, also considering that as Dr. Brine he could label that shit and get more publicity than he would have as an entrepreneur just starting out.

The only thing I wasn't sure about is what exactly we were trying to signal here. Usually a corporation had some sort of goal; a mission statement in which a business strived for. Disney, for example, strove to provide leading, quality family entertainment. Microsoft's mission statement is that they seek to enable people and business to realize their full potential through their devices. Yet, what was Octo Corp? What were we? I'm pretty sure " _Octo Corp: finest producer of mutant animals_ " isn't a good way to go, and whether or not the public knew it or not, that's what Octo Corp was for a long time, even before it was actually created. We needed to come up with an image of ourselves and establish a reputation other than the vague idea that Dr. Brine is a famous geneticist, yet hasn't really done anything to prove it. _I still wondered why the hell people loved him so much when he hasn't even really done anything other than for himself._

As I studied both the future outcome of Octo Corp and tried finding a upcoming conference to present our new 'invention', was when I heard another loud slam somewhere in the building. After the crash was when I heard Dave.

"I've got it!" Dave cried, his voice filling the vicinity quite instantly. After a few moments he stumbled into the room I was in, behind him a group of his henchmen carrying a variety of things Dave had managed to put together.

"You're… done? Already?" I asked, as I twirled myself around in the computer chair to face him.

"Yes!" Dave exhaled excitedly. "I have here, three, count 'em, three amazing inventions that will be sure to impress the humans!"

"Okay… let's see them," I replied, crossing my arms tightly over myself as I prepared to witness whatever Dave had to show me. For some reason, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it, I felt as if this wasn't going to work out. I mean, he managed to invent something within a few hours? I knew he was smart, but jeez.

"Okay, product number one!" Dave called out, triggering one of his henchmen to scurry up beside him and lift up a container of teal colored liquid for me to see. "This here is what I've come to call, Preparation H!"

" _What the hell?_ " This fell out of me uncontrollably. "Ass cream has already been invented, you dumbass!"

"What?" Dave asked, confused. " _Ass cream?_ No! What are you talking about, that's not what this is!"

I facepalmed my forehead. A couple times. "Change the damned name if it's not ass cream. That's also copyright."

"It's a serum that people can use, but not for there—why am I even trying to explain myself?! No, it's not for that reason. It's a liquid form serum that you can rub on animal's skin. Not only does it help your _cute adorable pet's_ skin get moisturized, but it also turns their skin permanently different colors, depending on the temperature of the room you're in! Multicolored animals!"

"Dave, I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "People don't want their animals turning colors. I also highly don't trust you with this kind of thing. We can't afford to be sued."

"But who doesn't like multicolored pets?" Dave's jaw dropped, as he tried to play innocent. "It's no harm to the cute animal, I promise!"

"Yeah right! Throw that shit away; we don't need to be selling that."

Dave frowned, and then shook his head at the henchmen that had brought it up. This caused an exchange of that one henchmen, for another couple, who brought up something new to show me. They pushed up a small cage with wheels.

"Okay then, product number two!" Dave began. "This is the self-cleaning cage! Has your cute little dog made mess? Not a problem for the self-cleaning cage. It sends over 5,000 volts of electricity throughout the bars, killing whatever nasty bacteria that may be lingering about—"

"WHAT THE HELL?" I gasped again, this time eyes wide. "Are you freaking kidding me!?"

"Oh… really?" Dave said, placing a tentacle up to his lip. "So… I'm guessing you _don't_ like it."

"What is wrong with you!" My hands flew up in the air that time. "Do I even have to explain to you how horrible of an idea that is!?"

"Yikes… err, well I'm highly guessing you're not going to like the third product then—"

"Most likely not!" I huffed. "All you care about is hurting cute animals! You're sick!"

"Kailey, I'm sorry!"

"Don't say a word!" I put a hand out in front of me, which seemed to do the job in silencing him. "I think we should just stop here." I felt like I wanted to start crying and tear my hair out at the same time. Dave just proved to me a second time that although his revenge schemes concerning the penguins and the Medusa Serum were long since put behind him, he was in no way capable of doing anything other than being weird. I guess it was a transition process, but still. If this was going to continue, and it would by the looks of it, we wouldn't be able to invent anything to sell. And that would mean no income, and no income meant we were going to be harassed by a freaking one-eyed dolphin, if not worse!

"It's hopeless," I finally gave in, and put my face into my hands. "We're doomed."

"Please don't think that way, dearest! We can figure something out!"

"If we can't make 26 billion dollars by the end of the month then we're up Shit Creek!"

"…where is that?"

"It's an expression, God!"

There was a long pause in the room before I heard the subtle gurgle of another henchman at the door. This in itself caused me to pull my face from my palms to look over at the door behind Dave. Once I raised my head, Dave, along with the henchmen that were already in the room, moved out to the side and made way for Penny, the littlest and pinkest octopus of the entire henchmen horde.

Penny gurbled a few times, softly, before she pulled what I had completely forgotten about from behind her. It was the Quantum Crystal Unit. The one that had been placed into Tetradnaught, and was taken from Mr. Issa's labs during the summer.

I had honestly thought that thing was destroyed in the explosion following my fight with North Wind. To see it was all in one piece was amazing. The only thing that indicated it had suffered some trauma was a large, but not dismembering scratch that slid diagonally and crookedly across its pale yellow surface.

"I don't believe it," I mumbled, "Penny? You actually have it. This—this changes everything!" I pulled my gaze from the QCU and looked to Dave, who was still in a silent state of not knowing what was going on. "Dave! We can use the QCU to sell to the public! I admit, we may need to bring the plan up to Mr. Issa, but…" I trailed off then, realizing that he was in prison, and very well might not even like the idea of us using his invention for ourselves.

"You know, that just might work out alright," Dave said after a moment. "I say we pay Mr. Issa visit. I'm sure he could use the company anyway."

. . . . . . .

I've never been in a prison before. I've seen them, from afar, but I've never actually stepped foot in prison grounds. I was half expecting to see a bunch of guys in orange jumpsuits out in the courtyards, watching us as we drove up then proceed to make fun of us like they did in the movies. Luckily for me, nonetheless, I was able to walk into the prison visitor center without any of that bull. It was kinda nice in there, actually. I'm sure it was all just a façade to hide all the bad stuff anyway, so that thought in itself made me feel a little uncomfortable.

A couple of police officers checked us in and then escorted Dave, now technically Dr. Brine, and me to one of those glass booth things. You know the kind—it's like you're in a little glass cube while a bunch of guards watch the conversation. We sat in there for a bit before I could finally hear the shutting of doors and footsteps head our way.

"Why, isn't it Octavius!" I heard Mr. Issa's voice before I had enough attention in me to actually see him. When I did look up to notice, I saw he was in the typical orange suit, bearing a set of cuffs on his arms. Despite having apparently been in prison for a few months already, he still had a shaved face, a decent haircut and seemed well kept up. Behind him the officers closed the door thing and backed up, then proceeded to cross their arms over their chests menacingly as they watched us.

"I'm glad to see you haven't lost your chipper attitude," Dave commented.

"The only reason why I'm happy is because you guys are here! What an unexpected honor!" Mr. Issa exclaimed. "I'd shake your hand, heck—give you a hug if I could, but these darn cuffs are in the way." He sat down on the seat across from us. "So tell me, Octavius, what brings you here, all the way to a Nevada prison, really?"

"Well, other than to come and see my dear friend and business partner, I'd like to offer you—"

"Wait! Don't say another word!" Mr. Issa interrupted. "I would like to talk first actually. This has been on my mind for an exceedingly long time and I don't think I can keep it to myself anymore." Mr. Issa sighed heavily before he resumed, although continued to keep a positive persona. "I'm sure you know with me being in prison my company hasn't been doing so well. Not only that, but my invention as well. You know, the Quantum Crystal Unit, remember? What I'm trying to get to is that an invention like that can't be hindered from society any longer. Somebody needs to take the reins and get things going."

"Wait… what are you saying?" Dave asked softly, though the both of us seemed to lean forward with this new topic.

"What I'm saying is, I want you to have the legal rights to my invention! I cut corners to try and save money and time, which is what put me in here. But you? With your superior and honest worth ethic you can do things the right way."

 _Ha! Honest work ethic._

"I don't know what to say…" Dave's jaw almost dropped. I guess he was prepared to kiss this guy's ass to get the QCU, but instead it was being given to him.

"You've given me so much valuable business throughout these ten-plus years, and I wanted to do something for you in return. I consent to giving you legal rights to my invention. I can only trust you with getting it out there. You can change the world as we know it! Everyone has been looking for a source of clean, long lasting energy for decades, and this is it!"

"Wow," I muttered aloud.

"Yes, _wow_ _!_ " Mr. Issa repeated with a smile. "You and your beautiful fiancée are going to have a lot more going for you now, Octavius. I just hope they'll let me out to attend your wedding…." He suddenly started tearing up, which caused him to pause and lift his thumb upward to an eye to wipe it softly.

"I'm sure you will," Dave said. "We'll take care of your invention and put it to good use."

"And we won't cut corners, either," I added.

Boy ol boy, things were sure looking bright again. At this rate, we'd have an income sooner than expected. But I couldn't relax just yet. If I wanted to make sure I had a decent holiday with Thanksgiving and Christmas, I had to get business done. That, and if I _didn't_ get business done we'd have a crazy ass dolphin harassing us for money, so that was a pretty good incentive not to screw up. I just hoped there wouldn't be any setbacks.


	3. Wishful Thinking

**Chapter 3**

Ah, _birthdays_. The presents, the cake: just the people in general that came by to say hello was nice. Alas, growing up has even more negatives that come along with it. Once you're an adult nobody gives a _shit_. But to be honest, you get used to it. At least I did. I was lucky enough to have a mom willing to bake cakes for me into my twenties, but that was it. The presents and your extended family caring and all that bull had been tossed out the window a long time ago. Birthdays… just ten to fade and become like any other day. Life goes on, I suppose, and that's exactly what was happening.

The entrepreneur conference we had signed up to participate in happened to land on my birthday; good ol November 9th. But on a damned Monday.

As much as I dreaded becoming another year older, that was pulled from the forefront of my thoughts quite instantly once we arrived to the large auditorium and seating area. There were a lot of people there, some other entrepreneurs that had come to show off their inventions and business ideas, and of course there were a handful of investors. Everyone was already settling down to prepare to begin, even one man taking a stand onto the stage as he looked through a list of participants to begin coordinating everyone's turn onto the stage.

"You've got the charts, right?" I asked with caution. Dave wasn't carrying anything but the exception of the QCU itself, which was a little concerning.

"I've got that all taken care of, dearest," Dave mused. "The conference volunteers are dealing with all the props backstage. I gave the presentation charts to them before we came in.

"Good." I couldn't help but release a heavy sigh after that. I tried not making a huge deal about it in front of Dave, but for once, I wanted things to go perfectly. Risking this sense of perfection and everything working out was essential to my sanity. Like, I can't even fathom the idea of a wrecked Christmas, or Thanksgiving even. It would be enough knowing I had failed at my first big business venture, but to also be attacked by a dolphin? I still was having a hard time comprehending that.

Everyone was finally settling down in their seats when the man on the stage reached for the microphone and tapped into it two times before he began speaking.

"Hello, and welcome to this year's conference for business and entrepreneurship. We will begin first with…"

I started not paying attention. My mind went elsewhere for some time before I returned to the presenter who had walked onto the stage and started explaining some things. What I actually heard came and went.

"People are more likely to pay attention when driving, or better yet, have lower risk of 'spacing out' when they have someone talking directly with them and beginning interesting discussions. With my artificial intelligence personality in cars that will speak to drivers and make conversation with them, people will be enticed to stay alert."

 _Whoa, cars that could talk? That was awesome, like, that was on the verge of some Magic School Bus shit right there I'll tell you what._

People began to clap after the man's obvious ending message, which triggered the man from before to return to the stage and the curtains to close behind him to prepare for the next participant.

"Next up, we have none other than Dr. Octavius Brine," the man spoke. This triggered an instant set of applause, which then caused Dave to take a stand and walk up towards the stage to begin his presentation. Luckily for me, I was able to opt out of this one and remain in the audience.

"It's an honor to be here," Dave greeted once he got his hands on the microphone. My brain still wanted to drift away, but for the sake of this pertaining to me just as well as Dave there, I forced myself to pay attention. "I present to you my newest product, the Quantum Crystal Unit!"

The curtains rolled back and set up was all of Dave's charts. One had a bunch of statistics and math ridiculousness on it, while another had an actual image of the QCU on it and arrows pointing to different areas, highlighting different qualities that it possessed.

"The Quantum Crystal Unit, or what I call for short, a QCU, is literally a battery. But wait—don't roll your eyes just yet! This is no ordinary battery. This item can be placed into anything—transportation vehicles of all kinds, buildings to self-generate power—almost anything that you can think of this thing can power. Now you might be wondering—how is this even possible? Well, throughout my studies I have found out this seemingly science fiction battery is made possible by the discovery of a new element I call, Octainivite.

Normally I would have faced palmed myself, but for once I continued to keep my palm under my chin and listened.

A series of awestruck _ooohhhs_ filled the vicinity. People were obviously interested in this. Who wouldn't be? This was an invention of perpetual energy. This could change lots of things. Of course people were going to find it fascinating. It was from that point that I felt myself lighten up a little as hope arose. With this sort of reaction to these people just in the auditorium, I could only imagine how the world was going to take it.

"Dr. Brine, what are the qualities of Octainivite, and how is it contained in a QCU to provide energy?"

Ah, yes, the questions. I felt like I was in freaking science class.

"Octainivite is a rather complex element that somehow self-generates energy once it is given surges of electricity—a spark, if you might say. Once placed into the QCU form, it retains a physical crystal structure; however, there is more to it than meets the eye. It has small traces of organic matter within it. But don't worry; this isn't aware or conscious like you might think. Consider a plant, and how it obtains energy from the sun, and then from henceforth is able to take that solar energy and create a cycle of resources through photosynthesis."

As fascinating and intrigued as I even was at that point, I became aware of the creak and scream of tires somewhere outside the building. Nobody else seemed to worry much about this sound, and so for the time being, everyone's focus was on the presentation.

"This is the reason why this is not only a long-term source of energy, but a clean source of energy too," Dave explained then, somehow at that point causing a subtle, yet obviously heightened uproar within the audience members.

"But what is the specific procedures taken to activate the QCU?" Another question was quickly thrown to the stage, which Dave seemed to pick up flawlessly. I had been worried Dave would be willing to cut corners and completely bullshit the crowd like he normally would, but the nerd did his studying this time, of course.

"The process was usually done through hydro-electrical pathways. Issa Industries initially was in charge of the creation of the QCU and powered the battery itself through a complex process at the Hoover Dam. However, I've come to discover other means to power it. Solar energy is effective, but it simply takes longer to power the cell. Traditional electrical and fossil fuels can be used as well, although it would defeated the purpose of making this a clean energy source. I've decided that hydro-electrical energy is the way to go, and thus I have taken the proper precautions, received the proper permits and rights to create my own machine, which can, and preferably, will be built at coastlines somewhere within the United States—"

Just then, the door at the back of the auditorium slammed open. Everyone instantly turned around in their seats, including me. The sound had simply been so abrupt, obnoxious, and loud that it tore us away from what Dave was talking about and to whoever this new intruder was. However, I don't think anything could really prepare me for who it was.

" _He lies! He is a liar!_ " The man that had come into the conference was none other than Chef Hiroto. Like, I am not even joking. The same Japanese chef we had the misfortune to meet in freaking Alaska somehow found us. As he walked further into the room, and continued talking, was when the picture started to become clearer.

"Do not listen to this man! He lies to you all! I know what he _really_ is!"

 _Holy shit what the actual hell was happening?_ I was actually so tongue-tied and caught off guard that I simply stared at him, wide-eyed in my seat.

"And _you_ _!_ " Hiroto caught a glimpse of me in the audience and pointed a finger harshly in my direction. "She is crazy! She lies! She is against humanity! She is against us all!"

"Okay, sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave." Finally, a handful of guards came up to him, one attempting to reach out kindly in order to put an end to the situation. Despite this, Hiroto wasn't going to get kicked out without a fight.

"Get away from me, you stupid Americans!" He yelled. "Can't you see that this Dr. Brine is a liar, and so is this girl!"

"Okay, sir, we warned you, but you have to go," the same officer stated, and then all together, the multiple guards grabbed hold of the guy and started escorting him out of the auditorium. He started kicking and flailing around, while spitting out a series of unintelligible sentences in Japanese that were most likely cuss words.

I felt terrible. I felt as if at any moment I would lose my ability to sit upright and fall onto the floor. I mean, I can't really truly describe how I was feeling, since this sort of situation is weird as shit. But, I guess it could be compared to the feeling you get while as a kid, you snuck outside in the yard to bury the summer school application the teacher had given you since you were going to fail math class, and didn't want to freaking waste your summer, but yet in the process got caught, and that feeling of enviable demise like a huge turd was going to hit the fan and—BOOM— there goes your summer vacation.

While the rest of the conference started settling back down to turn their attention to Dave, I sat up and left for the bathroom. I could hear talk about continuing, and then afterwards heading out into the lobby to showcase the inventions, but after that I was already out the door.

I went down a series of some dimly lit hallways until I reached the bathroom. Once inside, I went to the sink and wet my hands, and then with my fingers sprinkled some water onto my face and neck to try and chill out. After I dried myself, I stared into the mirror and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, and like I was my own personal coach, tried to talk myself down.

"Everything is going to be okay, Kailey, stop worrying," I told myself. "It's just one guy. He's not the threat here. You have other things to worry about…. Like crazy ass dolphins and the inevitability of North Wind possibly coming back."

My eyes got big as I thought about it and my lips formed into a strong frown, but I quickly caught myself as I took another deep breath, closed my eyes tightly for a brief moment, and then returned to gaze at myself in the mirror.

After my attempts at calming myself down, I heard a click. Even though it could have very well been a sound somewhere else, I turned around quickly and looked around the stalls. When nothing was there, that was when I turned back to my original position.

A deep breath… then another… then one more… I was slowly coming back to my senses. I had to stop letting this worrying get the best of me. Everything had worked out for the better before, and I knew that pattern wouldn't end now. I just had to keep up my façade, and keep my plans in perspective. Then everything would be fine and I could celebrate the holidays like normal.

SLAM! The bathroom door opened, this time tearing me from my meditative state and forcing me back into a state of panic. At the door was Hiroto.

"How did you—" I spilled, although was cut off.

"You think you have everyone fooled?" Hiroto hissed. "I know better. You haven't fooled me. You are a liar and a villain, and you are working with that—that," he stuttered a moment in his rage, "octopus! You are loyal to that monster!"

HOLY SHIT! He knows! He remembers! I thought that he would have ridden off that entire breakfast fiasco as a dream or hallucination, but he knows! Oh my God, our cover! Everything we've worked for!

"What are you talking about?" I tried to play it off, but with this guy there was no getting rid of his knowledge that he knew I was working for a _sentient, large talking purple octopus._

Hiroto started coming up towards me now, leaving his place at the door to try and corner me. I felt myself start freaking out as I my mind prepared to haul ass.

"What are you? An octopus too? No matter, I know, and soon both you and you're… you're, master will be caught once and for all!"

I darted for it. I don't know how I actually got away, but I darted around him as fast as I could and split from the bathroom. Despite my ability to get away from him, I could still hear his running footsteps behind me. From my panic I couldn't tell how far away he was. He could very well be right behind me, or as far back as a few feet or even yards. I didn't want to look back though. I didn't have to. I could visualize him behind me, and that was all that mattered.

I turned a tight corner, ran down the hall a bit longer, and then darted back into the conference room. However, to my terror, everyone was gone.

"Shit!" I gasped, quickly wasting no time as I ran up to the back of the auditorium and out the other exit. I ran for a bit longer until I reached another door, opening it violently and threw myself through it. It wasn't until I popped out of the doorway did I realize I was in the lobby where everyone had gathered to see the individual booths of presenters, and right then and there, and those who were closest to the door, looking at me strangely.

Quickly I tried pulling myself together, realizing then that Hiroto was no longer chasing me and I must have looked like a freak. I dusted off my clothes and then let my fingers through my hair as I smiled as politely as I could at everyone staring. Without a word I proceeded over towards Dave's booth.

"Kailey!" Dave gasped once I came into his line of vision. He looked at me strangely like the others had done before, before he managed to speak. "Are you okay?"

"That freak!" I said, but caught myself from being too loud as to not cause attention to ourselves. "That chef guy! He knows!"

"Don't worry about him," Dave responded, and attempted to reassure me by placing a hand on my shoulder. "You know I wouldn't let someone like that ruin our reputation. I've been doing this for years. I know exactly what I'm doing."

"That's easy for you to say," I said, although before we could converse more deeply about what happened, a woman and two other men, all dressed professionally walked up towards our booth, briefly looking at Dave's prop boards that were on the stage before speaking with him.

The woman, rather stoic, nearing her middle-aged years and looking to be no more than 5 feet tall, seemed to be more intimidating than both of the men who were with her. They all had that sort of serious business attitude going on, but she seemed to have it more so.

"Dr. Brine," the woman spoke up. "I am Jennifer Lao, and these are my colleagues, Johnny Tatum, and Nicholas Leblanc." She gestured to the older man first in the introduction and the other younger and dark headed man afterwards. "We have taken interest in the QCU and would like to discuss possibilities of sharing production resources to help make this possible as part of our investment."

"Investors?" I mumbled. I couldn't believe this. We were already getting investors who were willing to help us?

"Ah, yes! It's an honor, truly," Dave said with a smile. "Yes of course! To start, do you have any questions you would like me to elaborate on?"

"Mostly we're looking to see exactly how your QCU runs. If it were possible, we would love to see a demonstration that it can actually work."

"Of course!" Dave responded happily. I would have told them as it was that the QCU had already been tested and was even placed in Tetradnaught, but I'm sure that would only stir more, unrelated questions. "I actually have a vehicle outside with the QCU already in place, specifically for a potential demonstration such as this one."

From his words about demonstrations and whatnot, this caused some attention to fall on others in the lobby area as well. It would be no doubt that this would be the official and bright start of Octo Corp's first venture into the real business world.

. . . . . . .

I hadn't gone with them to watch the QCU in action, but apparently it had been a huge success. Last I knew Dave had been communicating with them throughout the day about potential offers with these investors, but from that point, that was all I knew.

The sun had already gone down, and yet from out the window of the 10th floor of the Octo Corp building I could still see the streetlights below and beyond. The lights that shined onto the roads and sidewalks had a filter of raindrops that would pass through its rays, causing a slight flickers as this happened. The raindrops on the window itself seemed to do the same thing with reflecting dim light and stirring it around in ways that it normally wouldn't if it hadn't been storming outside.

What a way to end the day! My day being harassed by some chef, along with the ever looming idea that if our attempts at making money failed I would have to put up with even more bullshit, seemed to take over my consciousness as I sat in the same dormant office as before. Even as I looked into the bright computer screen I couldn't help but add in that after all that happened, and all that I was being threatened with today, it ended in a shitty, cold rainstorm.

I am not normally a pessimist, not at all. If anything I could look at a situation and say out loud how everything would be fine and I'd get through this. But briefly, as I sat in that quiet room with only the soft pats of raindrops hitting the glass, I felt as if this was all a lost cause. There was so much against me, and even on my birthday I wouldn't be spared by life's bombardment of lemons saturated in stank sewage.

A loud crack of thunder suddenly erupted outside. Within a blink of an eye, both the lights on the streets as well as the office electricity ceased, leaving me stranded in the dark. It wasn't until there was another bright flash of lightning that briefly encased the room, and then depleted just as quickly, did I come out of my own self-pity and sit up from my chair.

"Shit," I mumbled. I'm sure I had all the documents I had saved up, so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was just an inconvenience, I suppose.

"Kailey?" I heard Dave's voice somewhere behind me as the office door creaked open. "Are you in here?"

"I'm here," I answered, for a moment placing my hand on top of my forehead and rubbed my temples with my thumb and index finger.

"I thought I'd find you still in here…" Dave spoke up again, although it wasn't until he came into the room, bringing with him a soft light that I finally turned around. I was half expecting him to just have a flashlight of some kind, but boy was I surprised.

"What's that for?" I asked, fully focusing on Dave and the small, two tiered cake he was carrying. It was lit with candles and everything, these candles by themselves seemingly bringing warmth into the room.

"You don't think I forgot, did you?" Dave smiled, then walked over towards a table to the side and placed it upon it.

"Where are the henchmen?" I asked, preparing myself for another random explosion of celebration with the Safety Dance blasting through the speakers like they normally would have done, but alas, it was still quiet, still tranquil.

"Nah, I just wanted this to be… well…" Dave stuttered for a moment. A wave of slight embarrassment seemed to get the better of him for a brief second before his confidence returned. "I wanted this to be special. Just you and me."

"Really?" I finally smiled too.

"I know today must have not been the easiest of days, but I've gotten everything taken care of," Dave started to explain, obviously seeing my discomfort. "I spoke with those investors and we've settled on an agreement. With their help we can get production up and going much faster than if we were to have done it without a second party. I've ordered buildings to be built on a single coastline for now, firstly Galveston, and then after we start making some money, we'll spread to other parts of the States."

"What did they want in return?" I asked.

"Well… I wanted to get production moving as soon as possible, so I've promised them 20% of sales."

I felt my face stiffen, although this was halted by Dave's reassurance before it could get stuck that way.

"Don't worry about it, dearest! We might be sharing income with them, but in the process we are gaining time."

"Well… I trust you," I admitted. I shrugged it off, and then tried to deter my focus on the negative and look at the positives. The ones right in front of me. "So, what kind of cake is that?"

"What do you think?" Dave grinned, showing off his crooked teeth as he did so. "Aren't you going to come make a wish before the candles burn out?"

"Oh… yeah!" I walked quickly over to the table and beside Dave and looked down at the little cake. It was simple in all honesty, but I could tell that Kevin had put it together. I could recognize his handwriting.

"Do you want me to sing that song?" Dave asked.

"No, you don't have too." I chuckled, then lowered my head just enough to where I could get a good shot at taking out all the candles at once. For just a moment, I shut my eyes. I thought about what I wanted. For things to go right… to be successful enough to keep out of trouble… regular things, I guess.

After I let those simple wishes past through my mind one last time I blew out the candles.

I never really believed that simply blowing out candles could make wishes come true, but who was I to say otherwise?


	4. Airline Madness

** Chapter 4**

"So, remind me again why we just didn't take one of your helicopters or whatever to go back to Houston?" I asked, leaning my head back against the airplane seat and stared up at the ceiling.

"Reconstruction on those machines won't be completed for about another week," Dave admitted, casually waving at some of the other passengers in first class with us that would look over their seats and ogle at 'Dr. Brine and his fiancée'.

"Then why didn't we just ride coach?" was my next question. Yes, setup for the production of QCUs with the investors was pretty much green lit, but I was still thinking of ways of how we could be saving money. Dave choosing first class on our flight from New York to Houston was pretty much the most pompous thing he could have done, in my opinion.

"Why would you want to ride coach again?" Dave raised a brow, turning from waving and smiling at the people among the seats, and then to me. "Don't you like it?"

"Well… of course I _like_ it, Octavius," I admitted. I took a second to look around, taking in all the differences between coach and first class that I have never really been able to compare before. This was actually my first time riding first class. The big differences were more leg room, faster attention from flight attendants, better food options, and of course, better smell. There were also no screaming children here, so that was another plus. "But still…" I started to continue, "…we could have saved money riding like normal."

"Kailey, look at me," Dave said gently, placing a hand on mine that was sitting on my lap. This caused me to pull my gaze from the ceiling to Dave, who started giving me that gentle, reassuring look that he was starting to get better at by the day. "We'll be all right, okay? Once production starts we'll have an income that will be enough to pay back Dr. Blowhole and anything else that needs to be covered. In the meantime, all we can do is the best we can."

"Sure," I responded, pulling my hand away from his touch and proceeded to wrap both arms around myself. After I got myself comfortable I turned to look out the window, taking note of the landscapes and clouds below me.

For the time being I could hear some people make conversation, and the occasional turbulence, but overall it was fairly quiet. Much more so than in the _back_ of the plane at least. In the back you'd have to listen to the engines stirring and thrusters blasting, so up here in comparison, well, that was just another plus.

I started doing this for a while; listening to the sounds and smells around me in order to look at the bright side. A man a few seats ahead of us had ordered a cup of coffee, so the smell of those freshly brewed coffee beans sent a pleasant aroma to fill the seats around us, seemingly encasing me with another reason to relax. Because of that warm, tranquil smell, I started thinking about home.

God, it had been forever since I've been home. At least, that's what it felt like. I thought about my mom's pumpkin, buttermilk, and apple pies, and my dad's special herb flavored turkey that he prepared every year. I thought about my younger brother, who I hadn't seen in an even longer amount of time than home itself; I could practically hear the conversations I'd have with him once we all gathered around the dinner table for Thanksgiving dinner. On top of that, I thought about my pets that would be excited to see me the second I walked through those doors. Kiki, my precious kitty, being most happy to see me home.

Without my knowledge prior, I became aware that a soft smile had formed onto my face. The images of my family, pets, and of course the food that would be waiting for me subtly dissipated the moment I came out of my daydreams. I soon found myself staring more avidly out the window again, seeing already that the city landscape below had changed, and even the clouds had become lighter than before. Among the occasional silver buildings, there were fall colored trees and grasses, some stretches of rivers and creeks, the usual flock of birds mimicking little ants from below, a high tech North Wind ship slowly getting closer to the airplane—OH MY SHITS WHAT THE—

I sat up quickly, practically slamming my face into the window as I stared wide-eyed at what was so obviously Classified's God damned ship coming for us. I rubbed my eyes, making sure to get all the crust I could out of them, then resumed my stare, blinking madly as if this was a hallucination.

My mouth practically fell open at that moment, once the ship started flying right beside the airplane we were in. It wasn't until it disappeared up towards the cockpit area that I threw myself from the window and onto Dave, grabbing his lab coat and pleadingly sending my panicked stare onto him.

"OH MY GOD!" I cried out loud, shaking him slightly. "NORTH WIND IS OUT THERE WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? OH MY LORD!"

I'm pretty sure people were staring back at us at that moment, but I was too petrified in my state of fear that any other insignificant distraction such as that one was merely like a speck in my scrambled eggs.

"Wait—here? Now?" Dave gasped, soon his own expression mimicking mine. "They wouldn't!"

Just then, a massive bump shook the airplane, triggering then a strong air current that swept through the entire hall. The man at the front had his cup of coffee literally sucked from right out of his hand, spilling all its contents onto the floor. A woman to the side with a stack full of documents had everything fly around her and then get tossed onto the floor, littering the halls even more so.

Hair flew for a bit longer in this huge whoosh of air before everything abruptly stopped. For a second, everything seemed normal. That was until the plane shook a few more times and the sound of a struggle escaped the cockpit area. After that, those yellow oxygen masks fell from above us, and then the intercom came on. There was static at first, before someone began to speak.

" _Ve apologize for the sudden turbulence and… draft of air. Everything is fine, please take the proper precautions and remained seated._ "

Shit, that's Eva! This was really happening!

A series of screams spilled from everyone's mouths once the cockpit doors to the front of the isle opened. Standing there, here on the freaking airplane, was Classified and Short Fuse. Inside the cockpit I could see Eva piloting the airplane, with both of the actual pilots knocked out cold.

The people in first class with us that had the privilege to see a freaking wolf and seal appear in front of them, way up in the damned sky, started sitting up and running for their lives into the coach areas. Their screams only caused more of a startle in the back, and I could hear people beginning to talk and grow worried.

"Dave!" Classified yelled, pointing his claw towards us. "You are surrounded and under arrest by the authority of North Wind. Considering we're in a public place I would suggest you come with us quietly."

"You really think I'm going to come with you that easily?" Dave stated, turning his alarmed expression into a confident smirk. "This has to be the lowest I've ever seen you go! You would really risk placing these good people in danger to catch me?"

"Sometimes different routes have to be taken, David. As you can already see, however, the humans up front have evacuated to the back. They've taken care of themselves easily." Classified turned his attention to me next. "As for you, Kailey, because of your incompetence to remain out of this situation, you will be quarantined with us before being released back to where you belong, where you will be monitored by the agents of North Wind henceforth.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" I yelled. I sat up, and like the other passengers, got the hell out of the front. I passed through a large curtain, and then quickly came into contact with the other passengers. Once I came into their view they all looked up at me, each and every one of them scared out of their minds.

"What's going on up there?" one girl cried.

"Uhhh…" I really wasn't prepared for this. "You see… there is, well… sort of a conflict going on…"

Just then, Short Fuse flew out from behind the curtains after me, tackling me to the floor and slapped me across both cheeks with his flippers a few times.

I couldn't feel the pain. This was so bizarre and screwed up on so many levels that I just stared at him; mouth open and completely at odds ends on what to do. It wasn't until after he slapped me a few times when he looked up at the passengers, bared his teeth at them, and then growled.

Like freaking chickens the passengers sat up, started screaming (squawking, really) their asses off, and began running, sprinting, crawling, and tripping over each other even further back into the plane. It didn't take too long before a good 50% of people sitting up here in the front of the plane had vanished into a smashed cloud of humans at the door towards the other parts of the plane. Even from witnessing this from behind a small seal, I could tell that any sort of help had literally left me.

Before I could think about saying a thing, Short Fuse struck me again, this time sending me into a daze. At one point I felt the weight of his body come off my chest, only however to feel myself being dragged along the floor and back behind the curtains from whence I came.

I slowly felt the confusion that had come over me slowly dissolve, thought once I was in fact able to comprehend what was happening I realized the fight was very much not over. I came to my senses when I realized Dave was still in the process of fighting Classifed.

"Get your slimy—GET OFF ME YOU BLOODY CRETIN!" Classified fussed while dodging around Dave's punches.

Anybody who could see this would hastily recognize Dave (in this case Dr. Brine) was definitely not a human being. Like, there was some weird sci-fi comic book shit going on right then, and even knowing who Dave was, seeing the fight that had somehow unfolded in front of me freaked me out.

Dave was fighting with at least six limbs, two only being his "arms" as Dr. Brine, while his other tentacles punched at Classified like some kind of crazy kraken attacking a ship from under his white lab coat. Just behind them and through the doors to the cockpit, I took notice of Eva piloting the plane.

My own fight soon broke out the moment Short Fuse realized I had come to. He charged at me, although from my heightened state of alertness I somehow managed to escape another punch and jump to my feet. I stuck out both my firsts and attempted a fighting stance, even though I knew good and well I couldn't possibly win in direct hand-to-hand combat. The only time I had received any sort of martial arts training was very briefly during high school, and then later with my friend Jessica, and that didn't even last long because I immediately had to go off to college.

My attempts at being brave backfired. Short Fuse ended up attacking me again, grabbing my face and ended up crawling onto the top of my head and started slapping me. I was dismayed for quite a few moments as I ran around flailing my arms in the air while screaming, but reason settled in within those seconds once I realize that was literally going to do nothing to help me.

I tried breaking from my freak-out episode and slammed the top of my head into the side walls, causing Short Fuse to lose his grip and fall onto my back. I ended up doing the same thing again—slamming myself onto the wall to get the damned seal off me. It was only after about five tries of relentlessly slamming myself at the wall did Short Fuse finally fall off of me completely, giving me a chance to try and get away from him.

Alas, even though I had the time to pick up my feet to start sprinting, Short Fuse somehow grabbed hold of my ankle and caused me to fall face first onto the floor.

"David! Listen! STOP!" Classified cried out once more, although his pleas to try and make this fight end were to no avail. "Stop this now, or I'll have to use lethal force!"

Dave kept sending jabs his direction, nailing a good one on Classified's snout, which caused him to trip backwards. Despite this, Classified seemed to catch himself, regardless.

"That's it, Dave!" Classified hollered. He reached behind him, while simultaneously dodging Dave's punches, and pulled out a weird gun-like object. From my fallen position on the floor I watched as he lifted it up in attempts to aim at Dave, although thankfully, the trigger was never pulled due to Dave slipping in another punch at Classified's face, then another at his paw, which caused the weapon to fly out of his grip and onto the floor right in front of me.

I reached out and quickly grabbed it, although this sweet victory was rather short lived. Short Fuse jumped back on me while simultaneously attempting to slap the gun out of my hands. At that time, shock and confusion was replaced with my held up anger. I was getting tired of this ridiculousness, so I felt the need to fight back once again, this time with vengeance.

I put every ounce of strength I had and flipped myself around to where my back was on the ground, which caused Short Fuse to fall off me. Although he did try jumping back onto my stomach, I didn't hesitate.

 _I shot him._

Although, please don't think I killed him. Lord no. At the time I admit I thought I did, and honestly to God I had instantaneously made the decision to do so as my right for self-defense, but luckily for me and everyone else there, it was no ordinary gun.

Once I pulled the trigger, the gun sent out a small circular wave of electrical energy, shocking him, and then forcing Short Fuse into unconsciousness.

I didn't stop there, though. I quickly turned my aim towards the fight between Dave and Classified, who were now at each other's throats. I felt my hands begin to wobble uncontrollably as I struggled to keep the aim of the weapon up and at the fight.

"Shoot him!" Dave took notice of me and the powerful taser weapon. "Quick!"

"Uhhh!" My eyes got big then as more pressure was suddenly placed on me. Dave was asking me to shoot Classified. _Okay, big deal,_ you might be thinking. _Just shoot the damned wolf and win._ _Everything's taken care of. Simple._

But please try and imagine yourself in my shoes. I was in a freaking commercial airliner, traveling at 550-something miles an hour, while also flying 30,000 feet in the air, in which the pilots were knocked out and an _owl_ was driving, also watching a large wolf and octopus-man-beast fight, _and_ having to shoot one of them without shooting the other.

My trembling seemed to only get worse. I had them both swapping into my aim, causing my mind to start racing. I had to do something, and quick. With all the willpower I had, I attempted to halt the wobble in my hands, aimed as best as I could, and fired.

The blue wave of electricity expelled outward, and to my horror, _hit Dave_.

Dave seized up, losing control of his human coloring as his skin tone slipped into a cascade of colors. After his rather horrendous reaction to being tasered, his body limply fell flat backwards onto the floor.

Both Classified's and my own jaw fell at that point as we looked down at Dave, who was very much unconscious, just like Short Fuse. The sudden increase in silence after the abrupt end to their fight was dreadful, this feeling escalating even more so as Classified turned his attention to me, quickly clearing his throat and standing up straight to look more professional.

"Now then," Classified began. "That took care of itself rather easily. Now, if you Kailey, would be so kind as to hand the weapon to me, and we'll be done here—"

I didn't hesitate. I shot that hoe when his guard was down, which was a freaking _mistake_ on his part, because I wasn't going to make two mistakes in one day. Once Classified hit the floor, joining the others in their unconsciousness, I quickly, and without thinking, shot that fluffy pigeon piloting.

Now—now that may have been _kinda_ a mistake, but no worries! Even while in the midst of freaking out from the sudden turbulence of the plane flying without a pilot, I rushed into the cockpit, pushed Eva's limp body aside, and took the controls (I had _some_ confidence in this from watching Penny all the time). The plane suddenly lost altitude the very second I managed to sit down, sending its nose downward and towards the landscape below.

I had no idea what I was doing. I'm going to be completely honest about that. All I could do was scream and attempt to pull the plane's nose up. Once I did so, I found the autopilot button, and then shifted into phase two.

"Oh God, how do I get rid of the bodies?" I asked out loud, turning my head around to see the three members of North Wind lying on the ground, along with Dave and the two human pilots. I looked around the plane more thoroughly, and then down at myself. I couldn't risk people seeing 'Dr. Brine' like this, so I took off my lab coat and placed it on top of him. I made sure to kick his tentacles under the coat so it looked like he was just lying under the coat, all regular-like.

I was just on time. I heard the sound of two women behind me. "Ms. Kailey?" One of the flight attendants would ask me. "What—"

"No time for questions!" I exhaled in one breath. "These animals here!" I pointed at Classified, Eva and Short Fuse. "Throw them off the plane!"

"But we're still flying!" the other flight attendant spoke out, shocked.

"JUST DO IT!" I screamed.

The flight attendants quickly got to work, shuffling around and lifting up the members of North Wind with all their strength. After a good while they finally got all three of them at the door, strapped themselves onto a set of seatbelts as I took my own cover with Dave's still unconscious body to make sure to have my lab coat still over him after the wind that would come in, and then prepared for the worst.

I don't know how they managed to do this, but they got the door open. The air became wild for a moment, sucking whatever contents weren't being held down, and within a moment, it was all over.

I opened my eyes to see North Wind was gone. I literally had just ordered them to be thrown out of a jet airplane.

"How did those animals get on the plane?" I heard one of the flight attendants ask. I wish I could tell them they were sentient, horrible creatures who literally got on the plane solely to attack me and Dave, but alas. I could only roll my eyes.

"Leave the room!" I spat out, without thinking at first, but I soon came up with a reason why. "Go check on the other passengers."

"Right," they both said in unison, unstrapped themselves from their seats, and then rushed back behind the curtains. This left me with Dave, whom I quickly tended to. Even when I pulled my lab coat from his face, he still looked pretty passed out. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this.

"Dave!" I gasped, attempting to keep my voice down, but despite this it came out in an airy cry. "Dave, please wake up!" He didn't wake up, of course, so I resorted to lightly shaking him. When this didn't work, I full blown grabbed the collar of his lab coat and shook him as hard as I could. "WAKE UP!" I yelled that time.

"Ughhh… what—what's going on?" Dave's eyes slowly opened, his face looking rather droopy for the moment, but as he started becoming more aware his Dr. Brine face became corrected.

"Everything's fine," I stated, taking the time to calm myself. "I took care of everything, I had them kicked off the plane."

"You shot me…" he said. I felt my face turn red from embarrassment.

"I was—I was trying to help—" I tried to plea my case, but he quickly put a finger to my lip, suddenly expelling one of his crooked smirks, while sitting up ever so slightly.

"You took care of them, that's all that matters… Pretty fine work, if I do say so myself."

"Oh, please," I put a hand to my cheek to attempt to deter the blush that was only getting worse. "I'm terrible at this, don't lie."

"Would I ever lie about you?" he asked.

I began to hear groans from the cockpit. The pilots were waking up now, which was a good thing. At least I knew we'd get to Houston, and not—I don't know— _die_.


	5. Homecoming

_Hey everyone! I wanted to apologize for not having posted in so long. College caught up with me really quickly. Regardless, I'm trying my best to start posting in a timely manner from now on._

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 _"Dr. Brine, are you all right?"_

 _"Is it true wild animals were somehow on the ship?"_

 _"It's really a miracle that you got out of that situation! What did you do to fend off the animals on the plane?"_

 _"I heard you evacuated the civilians to the back and directed the flight attendants to rid of these beasts! You're a hero!"_

Tons of these comments spilled at us in the form of a large media crowd. They had somehow found out and met our flight upon landing, sending questions at us left from right. I took notice of some more news reporters approaching other passengers that had seen some of what had happened, and police officers and medical teams tending to the pilots, but for the most part, all the attention was on us, yet again. The only difference to this sudden bombardment of press was a small crowd protesting a few yards behind the reporters. They had signs made of cardboard reading things like 'JUSTICE FOR THE ANIMALS'; probably some kind of PETA group. If these protesters would have known those 'animals' on board were actually there to hurt and arrest us, then maybe this would be going a lot differently.

"What kind flight crew would just throw live animals out of a moving aircraft, let alone allow them on the plane in the first place?" one of the protesters yelled. "Animal abuse! Animal abuse!"

Although some people had claimed that I was the one that had the animals thrown out, they still tried to blame the flight crew themselves. They talked shit all they could about those two girls that had actually kicked North Wind out, but they wouldn't dare speak ill of 'Dr. Brine' or me. It was really kind of hypocritical of people.

"We need to get out of here…" I muttered at Dave, who was attempting to please the media once again with that toothy grin of his.

"Right," Dave stated, attempting to keep his cheerful waves towards the cameras, slowly only then beginning to walk ahead. Despite our procession forward, the media would continue to surround us, moving along with us like a bunch of sharks around a school of fish. It wasn't until a few more feet of walking, along with my obvious discomfort, did the police officers that had been tending to the passengers come into the media crowd to try to disperse things, and separate them from us. It was really crazy, but in the midst of it all I just kept my head down, held onto Dave's arm, and soon enough exited the airport completely. Outside there were some vehicles lined up for pick up, one in particular catching my attention.

It was my dad's truck.

I had to blink a few times in order to fully come to terms that my dad's truck was here. It wasn't until that I saw the passenger's window roll down, and witness my mother wave excitedly at me, did I settle with the idea that I was about to transition from a chaotic plane ride and media montage, to trying to keep it to myself in the presence of my parents.

"Kailey!" I heard my dad's loud voice cry from the truck. "Let's get going! I want to hear about everything!"

"Lord…" I muttered out loud. I was still trying to get a hold of myself. It was sheer luck that we had gotten out of that situation, and a touch of my own perception in the midst of shit hitting the fan. "Let's not speak of this," I said. "Hopefully they haven't heard about what happened."

"Not to burst your bubble, dearest, but I'm sure they're going to find out eventually," Dave stated. "And besides, who cares? Your family would be proud of you for saving a plane full of passengers."

" _Proud, my ass_ ," I hissed. "They're gonna be worried if they find out. Mom still hasn't stopped talking about the whole robot incident."

I suddenly realized that as I was divulging in my own self worry, Dave had coaxed me up to the truck. By the time I came to reality, Mom and Dad were looking at me with huge smiles as we climbed into the backseat.

"Kailey! Long time no see!" My mom said happily.

"Tell us about the company, I want to know how things are going," my dad added. "I heard that you're finally ready to submit your energy plan to other businesses."

"Yeah… uhhh…" I started. I tried adjusting myself in my seat to get myself to feel and act more comfortable in front of them. "Lot's…" was all that came out though, at least for that part. "What are you doing here exactly?"

"Octavius called us the other day and mentioned he wanted us to be the ones to pick you up," Mom answered.

"Oh…" I remarked. I was incredibly happy to see my parents this early on in my return home, but it was still a surprise, nonetheless. I was prepared to have time to gather myself and calm down before I put my mask back on and tried to pretend everything was normal.

"She's just tired from the trip," Dave slipped in, and just in time too. My dad looked like he was about to throw another fit from me not telling him anything. "Business is going good. We just signed a contract with some investors recently. They'll be the ones that are going to connect us with other businesses. We won't know the progress of things until sometime after Thanksgiving."

"Investors?" My dad commented in a disdainful manner. "Good luck with that. You never know with people nowadays. They'll back out or screw something up one way or another."

" _Darren_ ," my mom said calmly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "They're not going to have those kind of problems. Are you, Kailey?"

I didn't have time to answer. "She needs to know that work isn't easy picking. I've run into so many assholes and cheaters in my line of work that you've constantly have got to stay on top of things." Dad was being rather persistent with his bickering.

"I assure you, I've got everything taken care of. We'll handle one thing at a time," Dave reassured. "When I got into this I knew what I was getting myself into."

"Kailey, tell me about things _other_ than work," Mom said quickly to change the subject. She always took notice of my dad's moping episodes about stress at work, and tried her best to turn it around.

"Well, nothing, really." I wasn't lying. The past few months had been nothing but rebuilding and getting everything settled to make money. "Last month I made Octavius dress up at a Halloween festival in Central Park."

"Oh, how fun!" Mom smiled. "Kailey has always been into cosplays and stuff. I'm guessing you dressed up in your Jedi robe, right?" She then turned to look at Dave. "She gets into it; really, I'm surprised she didn't do all the makeup and everything too. I still haven't seen pictures."

"Mom, it's not a big deal," I commented. "It was only like a few hours anyway. I didn't want to put all the makeup stuff on."

"Well you're going to have to do it for the comic convention this year in that case. I wanted to see if your father would join us too. It would be fun to do a family theme."

"Don't spend any money!" Dad huffed. "Not on me, I don't need you to spend any money on me."

"Dad?" I asked then. "Not to sound, like… rude or anything, but I thought you guys were better off money-wise?"

"We are," Mom stated. "But that doesn't mean he isn't going to stop being no fun."

"I'm fun!" Dad defended.

At that time, I took notice of how close we were to home. A few more exits and we'd already be there. I was prepared for a longer drive, but before I could fully start settling in my seat, the truck went into the far right lane, and took the nearest exit.

"Dad? Where are we going?" I wondered. "Are we going out to eat or something?"

"No, Mom's having Thanksgiving dinner prepared for tomorrow. We're not having any big meals until then," was all Dad managed to respond. After that, we all sat quietly in the truck, as I looked out the window for clues to where we could possibly be heading to. A few thoughts slipped my mind, naturally. We could very well be going to Tennis Express, a (you guessed it) overpriced tennis store for my dad. He made fun of me liking cartoons, and sci-fi and stuff, but he always failed to realize he was fangirling just as equally as me with tennis. He knew practically every player's name and would freak out whenever he watched a game and somebody hit a 'winner'.

After a few more lights we pulled into a neighborhood. I watched as we passed a few blocks with houses that looked much larger than those that I usually drove by on my way back to the house, but the further we drove, the more curiosity was coming over me. Houses got to decent sizes, but most importantly, the property and land themselves was a good size too.

We eventually came to a corner home, with a lot that stretched decently far and lead to another house, a bit smaller, but gorgeous all the same. Both had a Victorian type pillar structure; what I could only describe as 'the perfect Christmas houses'.

The moment we stopped was when both my parents, and even Dave, looked at me all at once. Smiles were filling their faces, like that kind a parent would be giving their kid before they were about to announce they were taking them to Disney World.

"See that house right there? And the one next to it?" my dad said, retaining his large grin.

"Yes…" I responded, looking constantly between the three of them and the houses outside. I had this sinking feeling in my chest, like I knew exactly what was about to happen, but a part of me wouldn't believe it.

 _"The one on the corner is our new home, and the one next to it is yours."_

I felt like I was underwater for a moment. Everything felt quiet—so quiet that even from within the truck I could hear the sound of mockingbirds outside and among the large oak trees that surrounded both houses.

"Come on, I wanna show you!" Mom suggested. Everyone started getting out of the truck then. I waited for a moment before I started out myself, and soon stepped foot onto the circular driveway along with them. I looked from my boots stationed on the newly settled concrete, and then to the houses towering before me. They weren't mansions—not at all. They had a simple, yet elegant structure about them… just big enough for a family, and guests to come from all around.

From my long stare, I suddenly began to realize that I was crying. My eyes blurred as I relaxed, staring up at the two structures as if looking upon the gates of Heaven itself. I could see it all, within that split moment. My family, my pets, good food, good conversations… just _happiness_ , all together like I had dreamed it would be.

"It's… perfect," I stuttered. I found my lips began to tremble when I talked so I figured it was better to just be quiet for the time being. But my parents, and Dave even, wouldn't let me hide it.

"What do you think?!" Dad excitedly cried out as he slapped my shoulder in that hyper sort of way he normally did. "How big of a Christmas wreath do you think we can put on this one? Imagine the lights!"

I couldn't hold it in anymore. Suddenly, I started bawling, only my two palms acting as shields to my face. I felt my mom come up to my left and wrap her arms around me, bringing me into a tight embrace.

"If it wasn't for Octavius we wouldn't have been able to do this," Mom said softly. "We're also on better standing financially thanks to him… After the first gift he gave us with the last check, he offered to build us both new houses. It's just like you always wanted. Together forever as one big family."

I laughed, and then started crying again. One big happy family. For once, that's all that mattered to me.

. . . . . . .

We had scaled my parents' house from head to toe, ceiling to floor, and attic to basement. Everything about their home had that comforting familiarity of my old home, but bigger, and grander than I could have ever imagined. Dad had even prepared for decorations to be put up the day after Thanksgiving, along with our trip to go get our tree.

Words could not express how excited I was. Everything beforehand seemed to be such a struggle, but now things were settling into place. I was beginning to trust that notion of everything working out the way it should. For the time, I wasn't worrying about our debt, or progress on Octo Corp. This is what I wanted—right here.

Dave and I had left my parents' house and ventured over to our own. Mom had restarted up on Thanksgiving dinner for tomorrow, so this was Dave's opportunity to show me around the other house.

"What do you think?" Dave gestured the moment we walked through the front door. His voice easily bounced off the high ceilings and slick tile floors as if we were in a cave. "I worked with your parents to make sure all your things were here when you saw it for the first time. Do you want to see your room?"

"My _room_?" I repeated in disbelief. Although the longer I stood there soaking in how much bigger this house was compared to the old one, that didn't seem as surprising.

"Come on, I'll show you!" Dave said, taking my hand and lead me up the stairs. I realized, though my red plastered and raw face from crying, I was grinning so large that you would have expected I had had a weird emotional tantrum and not a regular crying spell.

The moment I walked into my room, however, was when my large smile erupted. I let loose such a loud squeak that the sound echoed even then. _MY ROOM_! I thought. I could do anything here! My old room was super small, and this—this was like—I don't even know what!

I rushed over and scanned everything up close. There was my bed, my drawers and cabinets, even a new computer desk with my laptop on it. There was even room for my little piano keyboard to the side!

"It's glorious…" I stuttered again as I gently touched a piano key, listening to its sound vibrate throughout the room.

"Your mom mentioned you would like that," Dave said. "I'm glad you do."

"Like it?!" I spat out. "I love it! Everything is so perfect! I just can't even—you know what, actually? I'm going to blog about this."

I sat down, for the first time in months, and opened my computer up. I was prepared to venture onto my blog and start posting, but the moment I opened the computer was when I realized a document was up. I felt the red in my face from excitement mix around and leave my cheeks momentarily.

"Dave…" I started as gently as I could. "Who was reading my Star Wars fanfiction?"

"I wouldn't know," Dave responded, rather seriously, and looked to the side to deter his gaze from me.

"You read my fanfiction, didn't you?!" I gasped. I wasn't surprised, really. He looked through almost everything on my blog and Facebook before that the idea of him seeing my damned Star Wars nerd explosion wasn't a surprise. I guess I just had to give up on the fact that he was just one individual that I wouldn't be able to keep that stuff from.

"Whose Sarai Daan?" Dave asked. "I can guess Steven is a reference to your friend, and maybe that Sarah girl too, but why aren't you in it?"

"Sarai is my self-insert."

"But she's an alien… you're a human being."

"So? It's a Star Wars persona, you can do whatever you want."

"Then that means…" Dave thought out loud, but soon his expression fell to that of one of his jealous frowns. "You paired yourself up with the bad guy!? Kylo Reen? Or whatever?"

My face turned red again. He actually read it through thoroughly.

"It's Kylo _Ren_ ," I corrected, like the nerd I was, but he just kept going.

"But I—WHY WOULD YOU PAIR YOURSELF WITH HIM?"

"Jesus, Dave, settle down, it's only a fanfiction," I tried to say, but he was in rant mode.

"What do you mean it's only fanfiction?!" He fussed. "The existence of parallel universes are completely plausible, and works of literature in all forms are somehow our ability to see it! I haven't seen Star Wars yet, but Kylo Reen is… is a PUNK BITCH!"

I started laughing uncontrollably. He was taking this so seriously that I actually almost fell over laughing so hard. Why he was talking like this was beyond me, but when it came down to it I figured it was just another one of his self-suppressed psychotic rants (only this time shockingly not about penguins or cute animals).

"You really need to chill," I said. "Look, if you feel so bad about it, why don't you write your own fanfiction? People do it all the time went hey want to expand on canon material. I'll even let you use my computer."

" _Write my own_?" Dave questioned out loud. "Maybe I will!"

"I can't wait to read it," I said. I highly doubted he was going to go through with it since he often complained he had so many things to do getting his company up and running with all his machines, but whatever.


	6. Fanfiction

_Behold! Another Dave chapter. I figured Dave needed some more attention in terms of writing in his point of view, in this case getting a closer look on how he handles jealousy and writes fanfiction, so I hope you do enjoy. It's rather short, but leaving it out completely would have been a mistake on my part. I apologize in advanced.  
_

* * *

 ** Chapter 6**

 **Dave**

I managed to binge watch all 14.9 hours of all seven main Star Wars movies in one sitting. Just in time before Thanksgiving dinner too, with time to spare.

I do have a few conflictions with the franchise, one I simply cannot ignore. The 'Ewoks' or whatever those ridiculously and unnecessarily cute fluffy things were on the planet Endor, should have died. And I'm not saying this because of the mere fact they're cute, fluffy, and pointless with an anatomy that should have caused them to die from predators in their early evolutionary development, but that's not the point. When the Death Star was destroyed the resulting explosion would have spread countless debris on the planet Endor below, resulting in the mass extinction of the Ewoks. Other than a few other scientifically inaccurate depictions, the films were quite entertaining. I do feel a bit guilty for not having watched them with Kailey, but alas, I need to start understanding entertainment material she's interested in so we can converse together. Also I may or may not _hate_ Kylo Reen.

Grievous is my favorite thus far. The multiple arms thing really clicks with me and I could totally use that sort of aspect in a real sword fight if I work on it. My favorite film out of them all, however, was Revenge of the Sith. The brilliant aspect that Palpatine used to destroy his enemies was inspiring. Getting into the Republic system and then having previously programmed the clones to turn against the Jedi? Brilliant. That's something that could be simply done, by all means. I could create a sub-breed of penguins and have them live among the others, and then when they've gotten close enough to my targets, I could just have them destroyed! But… eh, yeah… Never-mind, I really don't think I could go through with that anymore. Maybe at one point but. Ugh! If only I saw Star Wars sooner! Alas. Forget it.

Moving along… From my study of the films I've composed what Kailey calls a one-shot 'fanfiction' to counter her pairing with herself and this Kylo character. The results are as follows.

. . . . . . .

STAR WARS

Light and dark are always at odds, but one cannot exist without the other. In the midst of war, Jedi Knight Kailey, one of the last Jedi other than the renowned Luke Skywalker, has been hunted down. Kylo Reen, leader of the First Order, has taken her in hopes to seduce her into joining him in his version of the dark side.

Kylo Reen fails to realize there are other holders of the dark force that still lurk in the depths of the galaxy; a Sith—Sith Lord Darth Octavius. He will stop at nothing to get Kailey to join him instead.

. . . . . . .

The sound of high tempo music expelling from wind instruments would fill the vicinity of a local bar stationed on one of the neutral desert worlds in the outer-rim. Thugs of all kind sat among stools and booths, conversing in a multitude of languages that melted together to create a strange yet familiar chatter. But one individual, among all the rest, was different.

This striking stranger wears a black high collar admiral-like suit and pants, purple gloves, with a long purple cape trailing behind him. Four lightsabers sit at his beltline, each slightly curved and black also. The bartender approaches him, in his hands a glass mug and a napkin that he proceeds to clean.

"What'll you have?" The alien bartender for some reason speaks in English.

"Clam juice. Space Clam juice," the mysterious stranger replies. The bartender proceeds to get his order and places it in a fancy glass to drink from. The stranger takes a sip, but before he could finish his beverage, added ruckus drifts into the room—this time laughter.

"You're kidding though, a real Jedi?" A question emerges from the group of four men. Each have black hair and wear similar clothing. The stranger immediately recognizes them as smugglers.

"Yes, a real Jedi, Private," another one of the smugglers responds proudly. "And we sold her location to the First Order. We're gonna be paid… what was it? Status on the payment, Kowalski?"

"1 million credits, Skipper," the tallest and leanest smuggler of the group calculates.

"I say we should have asked for more!" The one called Skipper cries out next. "It's not everyday somebody finds the location of a Jedi. The only other Jedi rumored to be alive is Luke Skywalker, and not even the Resistance knows where he is."

"Blargghh!" The fourth one grumbles.

"You're right, Rico, we should be happy with what we have," the littlest and youngest one named Private speaks once more. "There's a lot we can do with 1 million credits."

At this time, the mysterious stranger takes another shot of his Space Clam Juice, and walks over to the group of smugglers. They are surprised once they notice him approaching.

"I hear you have knowledge of a Jedi in the galaxy?" The stranger asks. "Where would she might be now?"

"Like we'd tell you!" Skipper, the lead smuggler says. "That's classified information. And I'm not talking about the bounty hunter Classified either."

"Tell me now or things won't be going your way for very much longer," the stranger threatens.

"Make us!" Skipper fights again. They all began to get into more of a standoff state as if to prepare to attack. The smuggler Rico, however, shot first.

Masterfully, the stranger ignites one of his lightsabers just in time, thus deflecting the shot fired at him. This surprises the four smugglers, and causes to them to stare wide eyed at the dark lord in front of them.

"Who—who are you?" The lead smuggler gasps.

"I am fear itself," the stranger responds. "I am, power. I am, Darth Octavius! Now tell me, fools, where is the Jedi girl? Or shall I kill you all now where you stand?"

"We'll tell you—we'll tell you!" they cry in unison.

Finally, just the information the Sith Lord needed.

. . . . . . .

"I see what's in your mind. You cannot hide anything from me," Kylo Reen speaks aloud. "Try as you will, but your resistance is futile."

"Never!" Kailey retaliates, briefly attempting to struggle from her containment unit. "I will not be tempted by you!"

"You are a fiery one, but no matter." Kylo proceeds to concentrate on the Force, diving his connection into Kailey's mind even further. The struggle can be seen outwardly on Kailey's expression as she fights off his attempts.

"Sir." A stormtrooper walks into the room unexpectedly. "We're receiving a signal from an approaching battleship. It does not look to be Resistance."

"Who then?" Kylo Reen barks, for the time, removing his mental attacks on Kailey.

"We're not sure, exactly…" the stormtrooper confesses.

Out of anger, Kylo turns on the stormtrooper, lifting him in the air with a Force choke so powerful the soldier cannot speak.

"You're stupid!" Kylo Reen yells, and then proceeds to throw him across the room, sending him ultimately into a set of controls that electrocute the stormtrooper until he dies. "I will need to contact the ship myself. I cannot trust anyone around here!" Kylo then turns to Kailey, swiping his hand before her face, which causes her to black out. He then picks her up to carry her limp body with him to a set of controls to contact the ship. He connects immediately.

"Reveal yourself," Kylo demands.

Laughter is heard from the other line briefly before a hologram of a devilishly handsome Darth Octavius appears. "Greetings, Kylo Reen," Darth Octavius laughs. "I am Darth Octavius. True wielder of the Dark side of the Force!"

"A Sith?" Kylo Reen gasps. "But—Sith haven't been shown since Episode 6, Return of the Jedi in the Star Wars chronological timeframe, and both died! Sith should be extinct!"

"So should the Jedi, for the most part, but Kailey is here for some reason too, just accept it," Darth Octavius informed. "Now, allow me to challenge you to a duel. The winner receives the Jedi girl."

"You think you can challenge me?" Kylo Reen scoffs. "Fine, let us meet on the planet Mustafar. We will do battle there."

"Gladly," Darth Octavius responds. The connection is cut off.

. . . . . . .

Some parsecs later, both Kylo Reen and Darth Octavius meet on the planet Mustafar. Jedi Knight Kailey is brought out, unconscious, and left lying safely on the rocks above. Who will win the fight for her partnership?

As the lava quakes in the flaming rivers, the two dark warriors approach each other. Kylo first draws out his unstable red lightsaber. Darth Octavius would soon follow, revealing and extra set of arms as he ignites his four lightsabers. Two are crimson, and two are orange, matching his luscious vermillion colored hair.

"I hope you've come prepared," Darth Octavius mentions then. "If not… then this fight will be over far more quickly than I had anticipated."

"Shut up!" Kylo Reen yells, and charges at Darth Octavius. Darth Octavius, however, sees this coming and gathers his stance fast enough to catch Kylo's lightsaber into one of his. The two remained countered like this until Darth Octavius is able to summon up his other lightsabers to help him. He twirls them quickly around, confusing Kylo Reen, and ultimately forcing him back. Regardless, Kylo Reen wasn't giving up.

The further Kylo Reen was pushed back the more aggressive he became. Soon, his attacks were becoming sporatic and ill-timed. He was using his aggression to attempt to scare his opponent. Darth Octavius wasn't about to fall for it, though.

"You're quite the powerful dueler, Kylo Reen," Darth Octavius says once their lightsabers clashed again, and the sizzling buzz of the blades remained constant. "But you're fighting style is boyish… unrefined… it depicts your character rather well. Everything from your ill-mannerisms and amateurish lightsaber craft, you're nothing but an undisciplined child. Kailey doesn't want a boy, she wants a man."

Kylo Reen does not respond, but yells out. His lightsaber fight patterns again return extremely aggressive as he attempts to swing at his opponent. Alas, despite this he cannot break through and land a strike.

"I better finish this quickly," Octavius mutters to himself as he realizes this could go on for quite some time. He managed to again work his other blades to block Kylo's attacks, and then once Kylo's attempt to push the fight forward was ceased, was when Octavius began his next maneuver.

Darth Octavius slipped to the side, causing Kylo to fall forward momentarily. This was all that was needed for Darth Octavius to make his move. Now having the upper hand, Darth Octavius struck Kylo Reen's back, scraping it and causing him to topple over. Darth Octavius could have very well made a finishing move, but instead, he moved a blade towards his arm and cut off his hand.

"There, now you can be like your grandfather," Darth Octavius mocked. Kylo began screaming in pain before he passed out like the punk bitch he was.

Darth Octavius retreated his lightsabers and rushed up the side of the rocks to reach Kailey. Once he got to her, he knelt by her side and lifted her head up into his arms, cradling her. He waited for a moment before she woke up.

"Who… who are you?" Kailey stuttered as he came to. "What happened?"

"You're safe now," Darth Octavius assured. "From Kylo Reen, at least. I am Darth Octavius. Sith Lord."

"A Sith?" Kailey gasped and then shuffled up and made space between herself and Darth Octavius.

"Do not be afraid of _me_ ," Darth Octavius spoke gently. "I mean you no harm, lovely one, I only wish to part you from that ridiculous pretty boy, whom I just cut the hand off of."

"You cut his hand off?" Kailey gasped once more. "You say you defeated Kylo Reen?"

The sounds of Kylo Reen's painfully exaggerated cries could be heard echoing from the rocks below.

"Yes," Darth Octavius responded. "He has been defeated. Unlike most Sith I do not believe in killing my enemies. I would rather hear them suffer instead and turn them into hideous monsters. Which reminds me I should go cut his face now."

"Please don't!" Kailey reached her hand out, but was hesitant. "It is against Jedi code to harm those who are defenseless. Please, you mustn't."

"There are many things that go against Jedi code," Darth Octavius said. "Even forming attachment, as I've come to understand." Darth Octavius pauses for a moment as his mind goes into thought. He is thinking about what to do, but he ultimately comes to the decision to do as Kailey tells him. "I will please you, lovely one. I will not harm him any further. But I do ask one favor in return."

"What is it?" Kailey asks. The both of them come to their feet in unison.

"Kylo wants to change who you are—to change you to the Dark side. I only want you to be at my side, but in your own way. Come with me? We will act as the galaxies balance—yin and yang, day and night. We will utilize both sides of the force as equals!"

"But what if our ideals clash?" Kailey says. "Sith, like many other Darksiders of the Force, use anger, revenge, and power. As a Jedi I use compassion and selflessness to draw my strength."

"Together we will be all the more powerful," Darth Octavius says, and reached outward for her hand. "Come with me?" he repeats.

Kailey reluctantly reaches her hand up, and steadily walks closer. Her eyes glance to all sides around her, as if she's having an internal struggle. Ultimately, she takes his hand.

Without prior notice, Darth Octavius pulls her in, twirls her once around, and then brings her close for a long, deep kiss. She wants to retaliate at first, but melts due to the allure the Sith Lord has upon her.

"We will go on many adventures," Darth Octavius says as he momentarily pulls away from the kiss. Kailey eagerly looks at him as he speaks. "There are the North Wind bounty hunters, who will stop at nothing to drive us apart. I am a wanted man, you know…"

"I don't care, I will stay by your side," Kailey claims.

"And there is a group of penguin smugglers that travel the galaxy, and whom very much will want revenge on me to… I could go on, but there is much against us. But we can take them all, won't we?"

"Of course we will," Kailey responds. She immediately buries her lips back onto his for another long kiss.

Jedi Knight Kailey X Sith Lord Darth Octavius forever xxxoooxoxoxoxo

THE END


	7. Thanksgiving Chaos

** Chapter 7**

I could feel my heart start racing. This didn't normally happen to me. Usually nervousness around my family was practically nonexistent, and even the most dumbass of comments or conversations wouldn't elude me. But as I proceeded walking up to my parents' house next door with Dave, seeing all the cars parked in the driveway, and already hearing the cluster of voices spill from the open windows, I could only anticipate disaster. Lord only knows who was in there. Knowing my parents, they would try and be as kind as possible and even invite my Grandpa Ron, whose logic was probably as close to a carrot's then to an actual human being's. Then there was Bob, good God, who was fairly normal in the aspect of conversation, but the second you mentioned something liberal, no matter the context or degree, he'd go off on rants, which Ron or my other grandfather Daniel would jump in and add along. That would only be made worse if my other uncle, Uncle Pat, was there, and he's the most liberal, progressive, tree-hugging vegan guy that exists on the planet.

I stared wide-eyed as we got to the door, letting my arms set at both my sides as stiff as a nutcracker's. Dave, on the other hand, seemed relaxed in his stance as he managed to smile softly in anticipation for someone to open the door after he knocked.

I heard footsteps, then suddenly, the door opened.

"Kailey! Hey everyone, Kailey's here!" It was my brother. I was shocked to see how tall he was, even how much hairier his beard gotten. He was practically a dark-haired lumberjack version of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Hey, Dannen…" I greeted softly, attempting to keep myself as calm and poised as I could. "How are things?"

"Things are great; I missed you!" he said cheerfully. My brother then gestured his arms outward, as if to offer a hug, and out of habit I stepped in. However, he hugged me a little tighter than I had anticipated, and so briefly air puffed out of me like I was one of those rubber chicken memes.

"Ah, Dannen. So you're the little brother I've heard so much about," Dave commented then. He had a joking of-the-sort tone to his voice when he mentioned 'little'. Yes, Dannen was my _little_ brother, but he by no means looked it. Practically from junior year in high school he could have passed off as a 30 year old parent.

"Yeah, that's me!" Dannen turned his attention to Dave after he hugged me. "It's a pretty easy name to remember. Just think of the Dannon yogurt."

"Is that what you're named after?" Dave for a brief moment raised a brow, confused.

"No! It's actually the combination of my dad and my grandfather's first names, Daniel and Darren. You'll never hear another name like it. At least… I _think_." He paused only for a second once he realized other people were in the house. "I'm sure everybody else wants to see you, Kailey," he said, "and meet this guy."

"It's Octavius Brine."

"Ya, I know what your name is." Dannen chuckled a little, and out of habit looked at me as if to tease me. I gave him the most deathly glare I could give him, which caused him to turn away and walk us into the living room to meet the rest of the family.

Oh God, Ron _and_ Bob were in there. Shit. I would have normally been super happy to see everyone else, but seeing those guys just… blew everything out of proportion. And when I say that, I mean what I felt would be a not-so-awkward day would end up being very much an awkward day. At least Pat wasn't there, so that meant he and Bob wouldn't have a debate in the house for Lord knows how long.

"Kailey!" My Grandma greeted with a little Texan drawl. She was already standing up, and so I quickly found myself in an embrace. I looked around to see Leah, my grandpa Daniel, my Aunt Linda (with her new husband Bob, obviously) my sweet little frail Grammy along with Ron, and of course my Mom and Dad working in the kitchen. They normally didn't greet anyone until Thanksgiving dinner actually started since they were so busy, but at least they had a bigger kitchen to work in now.

"Hey, Grandma," I greeted back, again, my voice seemingly quiet compared to everyone else. "How have you been feeling?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," she started. "I just had another surgery to fix the stiffness in my neck."

"Oh… I thought you already got that fixed years ago?"

"We thought, but it came back," she said with a deep, exaggerated sigh. "I've just been dealing with a lot… with the bladder infections, and my foot cramping up all the time. But what can you do?"

As much as I cared about my Grandma, I was already anticipating this. If I didn't stop her she would list every symptom she was having. "How are the dogs?" I asked next, to steer the conversation a different way.

"Scooter is fine. He had another tooth pulled." I was afraid she was going to go into another symptom check about her damned dogs, but luckily she moved on. "China is stiff, but she's doing good for her old age. As for Darcy, she still pees everywhere when she's excited. Dang dog always has me cleaning the floors."

"Kail _eeeee_ y!" Linda was next. "How are you, sweetie?" Her hug was very brief as well. I ended up going to everyone eventually (avoiding Bob and Ron though, I'm so sorry) and was prepared to start talking, before my dad started ordering me around from the kitchen.

"Kailey! You're not doing anything constructive. Get in here and set the tables!"

"Darren, she just walked in!" my mom fought. "Kailey, just spend time with the family; we got everything covered here."

"Are you sure?" Dave asked. "I could help with some things if you want."

"No need! We're almost done anyway."

"So, Kailey, introduce us to your fiancé," I heard Grandma say next. Welp, it was sure nice knowing everybody. I was prepared to internally combust.

"Uhhh… well, where do I start?" I stuttered first, awkwardly. "He's… Dr. Octavius Brine. The famous geneticist." To be honest I didn't even know why I had to introduce Dave to everyone considering they should know who he is, but I guess the family liked that personal touch to the situation.

"Well, we know that," Grandpa Daniel said in a huffy manner. He wasn't being mean, to emphasize, he just kinda _sounded_ like he was mad all the time. Wasn't his fault. I guess that's what happens when you get old. Well… maybe he was a grumpy old goat, but it was hard to tell. I don't know.

"Tell us about your new business," Leah added in. "What's the progress?"

"Well, we're still waiting on the call from our investors," Dave started to explain. "We won't know the official aspect of our deal until a day or so from now. Nonetheless, things look bright. Soon we'll have an abundance of electricity with no ill results from exhaust fumes and other such things that would cause harm to the environment. It will also save us money in the long run from putting time and effort into energy sources like gasoline and other such powered generators."

"That's going to put a lot of people out of business you know," Bob said next. _Here we go now_. "The oil industry is going to suffer because of this."

"That is one aspect that I regret… but in order for the population to receive efficient energy, an exchange was going to need to take place sometime or another," Dave explained logically. "It's also better for the environment that we go ahead and start shifting away from oil and gasoline, and types similar to that."

"There wasn't anything wrong with the environment to begin with," Bob fought. "With your new deal, millions of people are going to lose their jobs! The economy is going to suffer, particularly in Texas since that's where a lot of the oil is coming from."

"I assure you, it's not going to wreck the economy in the long run," Dave said. "It may buffer it for a short time, but other jobs will open up."

"Families from all over and of all generations have been in the oil industry since the foundations of this country, and because of this they won't have an income anymore. And when you say more jobs will open that simply means jobs for other people who go into that field. You can't expect a man my age, for example, to go back to school and suddenly get a job in a different field!"

"Bob… look…" I tried to step in, but the debate had already begun.

My brother interjected at that moment. "The oil industry just doesn't disappear overnight; it'll take years, or even decades for it to disappear. In this time people would have already shifted careers, entered retirement, or invested enough time and money in the backflow." His argument, was extremely logical and to the point. As an engineer and physicist himself Dannen often felt obligated to add his stance. "Plus, there are many differences in the industry—most plastics come from oil, for example. You can also distill different types of chemicals from oils, so oil is needed for other things besides energy. It may shrink substantially, but it won't die for a long time. By adding another source of energy to the economy, our country becomes more like an actual capitalist society, because there is more competition. We might even switch to more effective oil powered cars! Who knows?"

"That's all lies! Climate change is a lie that is made up by the liberal addenda!" _Ron had to join in._

I saw my brother get puffy for a second, but he managed to hold in any sort of negative confliction and proceed to speak in a very logical manner. "Climate change is real. A large percentage of scientists believe humans are causing a significant flux in environmental changes. "

"That's a lie!" Ron repeated. "It's all a big conspiracy!"

I felt like I wanted to stab myself with one of the forks being set on the table but I had to withhold myself from doing so. I took a deep breath to try and pull myself out of the typical family debate that had somehow erupted, but before I could exhale I heard my dad call from the other room. I couldn't have been more relieved.

"Dinner is ready, everyone!" Dad called. "Come gather around the table!"

I made a quick dash towards the table, leaving all the old people to slowly come to a stand and follow after me. It took a minute or so before everyone was situated. On the table, my parents had already set out the entirety of the meal. My mom's variety of dishes took up most of the table—they consisted of homemade mac and cheese, green beans, brussel sprouts (gross!), dressing, yams, and of course mashed potatoes. Dad's family famous turkey sat in the middle. You could see the variety of fresh herbs cooked into the meat, which only began to add to my appetite.

"Who wants to say grace?" Dad asked next. "Grammy, why don't you say grace?" Grammy was the oldest of the grandparents here anyway, and she had been ill recently, so I guess that's why dad tried to volunteer her. Usually he would do the prayer himself, so this was new.

"Grace?" Grammy asked. "Who?"

" _Grace_ ," my mom repeated more sharply for her to hear.

"There isn't anyone in this family named Grace."

"No! _Grace_!" Ron tried to correct.

Grammy shook her head.

"The _blessing!_ "

"Oh!" Grammy broke from her absent minded state. After she gathered herself and everyone became silent around the circle, holding hands and bowing their heads, Grammy said the prayer. Once she came out of her shell she was a very good speaker—when you looked at her you couldn't really tell, but the moment you heard her start preaching you'd be surprised. Little Grammy had gone into prisons during missions in Ecuador. She was truly an aspiration to follow.

After prayer, we all started to get in line to dig in. While everyone took their time debating on what food to get, I started grabbing food left from right. I had already prepared in my mind what I wanted so it was easy to pick around. Once I got my plate stacked up I retreated to the dinner table to claim my seat and start eating my food. Slowly, but surely, everyone else would join me.

Typically, when it came to the seating of my family members at my old house during Thanksgiving, there wouldn't be enough room at a single table, considering the size of the house was small in comparison with the family that joined us. So that would lead to a divide between my father's side and my mother's side; specifically this separation consisting of my Dad's side at the dinner table while my Mom's side went to sit in the living room. Now, in the new house (which was much larger) we had a single dinner table everyone could sit at. Regardless, everyone still managed to separate themselves in some way, in this case my Dad's side of the family being settled on one side of the table, and likewise my Mom's side taking the other.

Despite this obvious weirdness in division, I kept my head down and kept eating my food. It wasn't until Mom and Dad sat down to join us at the end of the table, along with Dave to my right, and my brother to my left, was when a new conversation begun to arise.

"How's the food everyone?" My dad asked. He usually couldn't help but do so. He liked to hear praise, I suppose.

"The turkey is delicious, Darren," my grandpa Daniel said. "You always make the best turkey."

"How about the dressing?" Dad asked next.

"I don't particularly care for the oysters, Darren," my grandmother spoke next. Everyone seemed to nod along with her. This couldn't be helped. Dad always tried making his weird dressing recipe that consisted of shrimp and oysters that only _he_ seemed to like, but had Mom always make it anyway.

"There is a different batch of regular dressing in the oven…" Mom answered in response to the negative reaction to the seafood dressing. "I don't know why Darren makes me cook that when nobody is going to eat it."

I hadn't realized it but the conversation of there being oysters and shrimp in the dressing had caused Dave to become stiff. I was lucky enough to have looked over in time to see his eye twitching.

"I think… uhhh… Octavius likes it," I added. This seemed to make my mother feel better, but on the other hand my dad began to grin widely.

"You do?" He gasped. "What do you think? What's your favorite part of it?"

"All," Dave answered. That was it. But after a second he sat up and went into the other room, and then after a moment or two returned with a heaping serving of the dressing, along with the mac and cheese. I was beginning to worry this would turn out like the first time Dave had dinner with members of my family, where he shoved an entire fish in his damned mouth, but it didn't seem to be looking like he was heading in that direction.

He picked up a fork, and started to eat his food. Normally. Like a human being.

I could tell he wanted to dive in, but I think he learned well from last time. I couldn't help but sigh.

"I happen to love seafood, so this is delicious," Dave commented, which only brightened up my dad's face even further.

"Well, I'm glad at least somebody likes it," Dad added. "If you want you can take some of that with you next door after dinner."

"Ya, that's a good idea, Darren's on a diet, so it's probably for the best that we have fewer leftovers around here," Mom said.

I was starting to feel a little more comfortable at that time. Mom and Dad were getting along with Dave, and Ron and Bob had shut the hell up at this point, so that was good.

In the midst of my relief the sound of the front doorbell went off. I watched as my mom turned her head to look towards the hallway that lead to the door, but overall she seemed rather perplexed.

"Who could that be?" Mom asked aloud. "I thought everyone was here?"

"I'll get it," Leah offered, sat up, and left the dinner table to disappear down the hall. Once she opened the door, was when I heard him…

It was my uncle. Uncle Pat.

Don't get me wrong; I actually love my uncle. He's a really cool guy and likes playing music like I do, but as of recent he's been… well… _an ass_.

"Hello everyone," Pat said calmly as he walked in behind Leah. My Grammy perked up immediately.

"Oh, Pat, I'm so happy to see you," she said fragilely. "Come here; I want to see you."

"Hey, Grammy," he greeted, came over, and then bent all the way down to give her a hug. _So far so good. I mean, nothing has_ _happened. Yet?_

"Why don't you join us?" Mom asked. "There's more than enough."

Pat hesitated, only for a moment. "Sure," he said. We all watched him depart into the other room, but he began to take a little longer than we had anticipated.

"So, Kailey, tell us about that robot thing," Grandma said. "Are you… okay?"

"I'm fine," I stated. "Literally not a big deal." To be honest, I didn't want to talk about it.

"What do you mean 'not a big deal'?" Grandma responded, surprised. "You could have died!"

"That's not the only weird thing that's happened to her," Dannen said next. "I heard on the radio this morning that she was on a plane filled with wild animals."

The entire table looked up at me.

"That's a lie," I said. "Dannen, that wasn't true. The plane was transporting pets, and one was… well, a helper dog for a blind man on the plane. He barked and spooked the flight attendants. Not a big deal."

"Oh, well that's not what they said on the radio. Sounded like that dog was actually a wolf."

"They're a bunch of dumbass—" I caught my cuss word for the sake of my Grammy's more fragile ears. "I mean, _idiots_. The media only wants attention." I was starting to get a little angry, but oh boy, was I about to be in for it. At that moment, my uncle walked back in.

Pat was calm when he came in, but the stiff look on his face with the measly amount of food on his plate said otherwise. He sat down, sort of dismissively to everyone around him in a sense of looking pouty the entire time, and then lifted a fork and stared at his food like a child that didn't want to eat his vegetables.

"What's wrong?" My mom asked.

"Why do your brussel sprouts have bacon pieces in them?" Pat huffed. "You know I don't eat animal products."

"Oh… well, there is some green beans in there if you don't want that, or the mashed potatoes?"

"No thanks," Pat huffed again. Please realize that the conversation could have been left at that, but… you know. _Thanksgiving dinner always brings the joyous family together_. And I hope you realize that previous sentence is me being sarcastic.

"I don't know why you just eat whatever like this," Pat stated seriously. "It's terrible for you to eat anything with GMO's or non-organic. Knowing you, I don't even think you should be eating this. Bacon is not only an animal product but carries immense amounts of artificial ingredients to keep it fresh."

"Pat, if you don't want to eat you don't have too," Mom tried settling his sudden one-sided argument quickly, but Pat continued.

"Even your green beans, which you think might be healthy, is actually covered in pesticides. And the gravy you make? Made from milk, obviously, but where do you think that comes from? From a cow that eats grasses grown with pesticides, and if it's not free range, then it lives in its own waste. Not to mention the human body isn't even supposed to be ingesting dairy products beyond their own mother's milk during infanthood."

"Like I said, Patrick, you don't have to eat the food." I could tell this was hurting my mom's feelings. Usually this was something that she could shrug off as a 'Pat moment', but I guess it was starting to become overwhelming to her.

I felt like I wanted to flip the table. It was taking every ounce of me to not fight him. I mean, why should I? This is _Thanksgiving_. Why do people use this time to talk about politics, or agriculture or whatever the _fuck_?

I suddenly heard Bob and Daniel talk on the other side of the table. They were in their own world, in a sense of their conversation, but it still didn't matter. It was what they were talking about that made it worse.

"That candidate is a liar and full of shit, I wouldn't be surprised if he got shot his first day in office," Bob said. "I'm telling you, I'm going to move away from America if that socialist gets elected."

All my life I had managed to keep my mouth shut and take it. Every year, whenever I heard weird shit spewing from my family's mouths, I kept it to myself. This was family after all, I should be _respectful_. I should be a _lady._ I should be _considerate_ of my elders. Well you know what, screw that shit! _They come into my house_ —

I felt myself explode. Not in a literal sense, of course, but the next thing I knew I was leaning on the table, with my palms squeezing its wooden frames as if I would break it. I honestly don't remember the expressions of my family's faces. I was in a blind rampage, verbally.

"Since when is Thanksgiving dinner, a day to literally give thanks and be with family, and talking about the things that matter suddenly ALL ABOUT POLITICS? I'd rather know where your puppy took a shit today, or what color you painted your nails, than hear one more comment about how much you hate this candidate, or why you think global warming isn't real, or why you're a picky little asshole and don't want to eat your goddamned dinner that was made for you! I am sick and tired, every freaking year, hearing literal diarrhea flying out of your holes! DO YOU EVEN HEAR YOURSELVES? I mean—GOOD GOD CORN IS A GMO! IT WAS LITERALLY GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOR US TO CONSUME! FREAKING PUGS FOR CHRIST SAKES ARE GMOS! AND WHERE ARE YOU GONNA GO, BOB? HUH? IF THAT SOCALIST CANDIDATE GETS ELECTED, ARE YOU GONNA MOVE TO BRITAIN, OR CANADA, A _SOCIALIST_ SOCIETY?"

I felt the last inch of oxygen leave my lungs, and for a brief second my vision went white. For a moment I physically lost my senses. Only then, in the midst of my own white-out, did I finally manage to stand still and get my breathing back together. My vision slowly returned to me like a wave, and only then was when I looked off into the distance, avoiding eye contact.

I sat up, took another deep breath, and walked out of the house.

. . . . . . .

I sat next door in my home, in my room for a good thirty minutes, bawling my eyes out, before I heard somebody come into the house. I'm sure all the mascara on my face had been washed away by then, and my face looked like it was so raw that I might as well have had been punched. I knew this because I would briefly look across the room and stare into the mirror above my clothes drawers and see myself.

I felt so ridiculous. Even though those people deserved to be yelled at, I felt like _I_ was the one that was in the wrong. I mean, _was I_? Should I have kept quiet and let them bicker?

I heard whoever came into the house start walking up the stairs, but I didn't care. I continued crying, but managed to keep my sobs to a minimum so whoever was coming wouldn't hear me. It was only until somebody finally softly knocked on my door did I pull myself from my cries.

" _Please, not now…_ " I spoke up, but my voice cracked anyway.

"Kailey, it's me…" Dave answered. His voice seemed genuinely concerned.

"I said go away!" I cried out again, this time my obvious bawling becoming… well, _obvious_.

"Kailey, everything is okay," Dave tried to reassure. "I had a talk with them. Actually, we all had a discussion. And I want to let you know that everything is okay."

" _How?_ " I hissed. "Nothing is ever going to be okay! All people care about is themselves. They don't care what they say. They don't care if it hurts other people's feelings. Everyone is just becoming mindless drones of gossip. I mean—what do they talk about when I'm not there? _About me_?"

"Kailey… they love you," Dave spoke through the door. "They don't mean it when they say things like that. Yes, people are selfish. Everyone gets like that… even me."

"But you're not like that. Not anymore."

"I might as well be. But then you came along." He paused. "They love you, Kailey. And… I love you too. Please don't stay locked up anymore."

I stayed in my spot on the bed for a while longer, moving my fingers underneath my eyes to try and get rid of my dormant tears. But ultimately, I sat back up, and went to the door.

I managed to crack the door, peering one eye out, only to be met with Dave's concerned stare. I stood back a little, and then let him push the door open the rest of the way. We stood there, on either side of the doorway, for a moment, before he walked in, and gave me a hug.

"They want to apologize," he said as I remained within within his hug. "They mean it. We'll go back together."

"I'm surprised they're not disowning me."

"Why would they?"

"Well, I don't know, really." I took another breath, as in preparation to face them again. "They'll see that I've been crying."

"Good, they need to see that." He smiled. "You know… your mom made you a buttermilk pie. She said it was your favorite kind of pie."

"It is."

"Then do you want to go get some? I've never had buttermilk pie before."

"Really?"

"Yeah… but you wouldn't pass up the chance to show me, huh?"

"No."

"I thought so."

Dave pulled away from the hug, and set both his gloved hands on my shoulders, looking at me straightforward with a soft smile that began to further counter the frown that was on my face. But instead of making me melt, which was so often the case, he relax instead, his smile growing from being chipper and kindly to that of calmness.

"Won't you marry me?" he asked, his voice deep.

I only responded with raising a brow. My face flustered red, adding to my already reddened facial state from having cried for thirty minutes straight, and then punched his arm lightly.

"Let's go get that pie already," I said, "before my dad eats it all."


	8. I'll Be Home for Christmas

** Chapter 8**

"Hurry up! We're going to miss all the good trees!" My dad pleaded. "And I hope you're wearing flannel!"

The first cold snap of the season had finally hit. And for Texas, that wasn't exactly _cold_ , but it was cold for Texas. It would be in the 40's all day, providing a good setting and feel for our annual Christmas tree shopping. Years of hoping that it would snow in my hometown was practically nonexistent at this point, so I logically knew that it would never slip under 30 degrees here, or at least for it to be cold enough to snow. Despite this sad fact, in the back of my head I always considered the one-out-of-a-million chance.

The only problem with this cold snap that I could possibly think of was that Dad was making us all wear matching flannel jackets. Luckily Dave didn't have to wear one, considering we didn't have an extra that could fit him, but I think he could do without it to be honest. Every time my family went somewhere together like this, we always had to 'match'. And that usually meant something as ridiculous as all wearing flannel to go Christmas tree shopping.

"I'm coming; God hold your horses!" I heard my mom cry from within the house. After a few seconds she followed after us, and soon my mother, father, brother, Dave and I hopped into the truck and drove off. I tried staying calm, but this was difficult due to me constantly feeling that fluttery feeling in my chest.

No—it wasn't because of Dave this time. Good lord. It was because it was the Christmas season. I don't really know how to explain it, but I'm sure any child who still had that sparkle in their eye during this season would understand. Not even just a child, really, but anyone who participated in this. It was like the cold brought with it a sense of relief from our never-ending, hot, and tiresome summer. It was like the actual air released a giant sigh, and with it came all the joy, smells of fresh evergreens, and lovingly baked cookies with it. Peace on earth, and good will towards men.

The moment we started driving Dad clicked on the radio. He immediately set it to my holiday mix CD I made so many years ago for him. After a few moments of the CD mechanism shifting around, _It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas_ began to play pleasantly in the speakers.

"You know what you guys," Dad spoke aloud, his voice, much like the feeling in my chest, seemingly happy in comparison to how he was most of the time. "What size tree do you think we should get this year?"

"I say get a fifteen-footer," Dannen joked.

Mom turned her head around to look at the backseat at Dannen and I, specifically. "Are you kidding; Dad has a hard enough time with those ten-foot trees we used to get at the old house. I think that's big enough."

Try to imagine a small house, with one room with a singular high enough ceiling to cram a gigantic tree in that took up at least half the visible walkway. Yeah, that's us. With my family it was literally either go big or go home. And now that we had a bigger house, it was obvious Dad was going to target a bigger tree.

"No way! Are you kidding?" Dad laughed. "We got a new house, big enough for practically anything this place has. I say size doesn't matter. I'll just have Dannen help me carry it in, and Octavius. What about it?"

"Hell yeah," Dannen said, excitedly.

"Sure thing," Dave responded. I wasn't really sure how strong he actually was when it came to lifting heaving things but I figured he had to have some kind of muscle strength. Dave was acting kinda off again today, but for the time being I wasn't really paying much mind to it.

"I don't want you breaking your backs over a tree," Mom said.

"Christmas only comes once a year; don't worry!" Dad exclaimed. Seriously, this was in overall comparison nothing like Dad. When he decided to get happy it was like he was an entirely different person. If I had the proper certification to treat him I'm sure I would have already diagnosed him with Dissociative Personality Disorder, or something on those lines.

"Which place are we going to?" I asked out loud.

"I was thinking of Spring Creek first, and if they didn't have anything there we'd go to Old Time Christmas Trees," Dad stated. "Hopefully there's still good ones left."

"It's the first day of December, Dad. I'm sure there are still going to be trees," I responded. I was just as worried as he was about finding the perfect Christmas tree, but his idea of _perfect_ seemed to be a little pickier than mine.

"We should have brought Ginger to get the tree!" My dad suddenly yelped out, as if that idea hadn't occurred to him before. I had also just realized I hadn't seen a single one of my pets since my visit home. I suppose it was because they were locked up in my parent's rooms so they wouldn't have bothered the family on Thanksgiving. Honestly, I would have let them out regardless, but like so many things, Mom didn't want to make the family uncomfortable.

"It's okay; she'd probably just tear up the back seat," Mom answered.

The truck subtly began to grow quiet after a while, and we let the Christmas songs do most of the talking. As I sat there I tried imagining what our tree would look like: how big it would be, what shade of green its needles would be… I even found my thoughts drifting off to the house itself. I remembered Dad saying he'd want to put lights up this year but two houses of those sizes would need a hella lot of lights. I normally would want to try and decorate a Griswold Christmas light house, but thinking about it our houses were almost too nice to decorate that way. It had to be elegant.

"We're here!" Dad cheered. The truck made a final turn into the driveway and parking lot of the Spring Creek Christmas Tree Farm. People were already here and scouting through the different trees both still in the ground and precut. I could see my Dad's expression through the rearview mirror ahead; he had an almost competitive look to his glare as he watched the people walk around while looking for a parking spot. Somehow this same feeling was given to me.

"Let's go!" I hollered. I found myself throwing the door open and jumping onto the ground, although this fast pace suddenly put to a halt because of everyone else's slow exit out of the vehicle. Dad was the only one who seemed to be just as hyper as me.

"Let's go to the Noble Firs!" Dad commanded. I ended up fast-walking with him, leaving my brother, Mom, and Dave behind, and went under the tent that housed all the softest, best and fresh-smelling, as well as biggest trees in the lot.

I heard Dad make a pouty, over-exaggerated huff a few times once he scanned the variety of trees available. I could see why, though. Most of the trees, although big (like freaking colossal) looked kinda broken and bent up.

"This won't work!" Dad fussed. By then the others had caught up with us.

"What about this one, Darren?" My mom pointed to a little five-footer that was perfect in every way. "This one is adorable."

"I said I want a big tree!" Dad said. "Look for a tall one!"

"Yeah, we're not getting anything under nine-feet," Dannen corrected.

"I don't know…" I shrugged. "I could settle for an eight-footer at most, it doesn't have to be huge." I was trying to make Mom feel better, really.

"No! Why would you say that, we need at least a fifteen-footer, just like Dannen said!"

"I was joking, but—"

"This is our first serious Christmas tree shopping year, we need to find the best around!"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Every year is serious."

"But this one is more! Because we have a new house!"

Okay, he had a good point. While I was excited and would like to be reserved outwardly like my mom, I couldn't agree more with my dad. We needed a good tree. And not even the cold breeze was going to stop me from picking one with the family.

"Wait! Look at that one!" Dad gasped. He rushed over to a good sized tree that was at least twice his height.

"Darren!" Mom gasped, but in a negative manner. "You can't carry that! It has to be literally twelve-feet!"

"I thought we were getting a fifteen-footer," Dannen sighed.

"This one looks really good though!" Dad said. _My family was all over the place with this but I couldn't blame them_ _._ Dad suddenly shoved his arms into the branches and grabbed hold of the trunk, turning it around and then ultimately pulling it out to get a better look. "What do you think?"

"I think it's really pretty," I said. It had the perfect proportions, and it had a sort of deep dark green color to it that seemed to outdo the others.

"Yeah, but it's not fifteen-feet," Dannen sighed again.

"So… not this one?" Dad huffed.

"That one's fine!" I'm sure Mom was just intervening because if the tree got any bigger she'd be afraid for Dad's life.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure Darren!"

"Are you really sure, because _it has to be the one_ _._ "

"Yes!"

"Kailey, do you like this one?" Dad asked next. "Is it the perfect Christmas tree?"

"Good lord, Dad, I literally just said a second ago that it was pretty,"

"His name is 'Repeat', remember?" My mom joked.

"But is this one okay?" Dad asked _again_.

"YESSS!" We all hollered at once.

"Settles it then, this is the tree."

Normally this was how it went; quickly but fun all the same. Every time I found myself becoming engulfed in the craziness that was Christmas tree shopping. Usually I'd have a moment when I wanted to jump ahead, but as of then, the moment was set perfectly in place. It wasn't until I remembered Dave, who had remained quiet through this entire endeavor, did I turn my attention from my family, and to him, who stood a few feet back from the rest of us, his eyes staring at the tree, although lacking that sense of focus like the rest of us had.

"Hey, whatcha thinking about?" I asked to try and get his attention. He seemed to slowly come out of it though. It was like he was in space, but he was still aware of his surroundings—sort of tied up into whatever intra-personal conversation he was having internally, but somehow managing to still be somewhat aware of what was going on outside.

"Everything is fine, dearest," Dave responded, only then turning his blank expression around and letting a soft smile briefly take over. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've been quiet…" I said. Now that I thought about it, he was severely quiet. Usually he had _something_ to say, but ever since we landed, he's been… well, not _himself_.

Briefly I thought of chuckling, big-toothed grin Dave. The one I was so used to. But it was just occurring to me that his silence, and overly proper attitude was somehow overcoming who he was. When he told me something wasn't wrong? That was a lie.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I felt like directly approaching him would be foolish. When Dave decided to keep things to himself that was how it was going to be. I mean, I could very well get mad if I wanted to and demand and explanation, but not only did I not _feel_ like getting mad for once, but I almost didn't want to know. I was so enveloped in the moment with my family that any thought of digging for an answer was like… non-existent.

"I'm here if you wanna talk about it…" I offered. But that was it. He simply nodded, but continued with that fake ass smile of his.

"Octavius, help me with this tree, won't you? This is it!" Dad exclaimed from a few feet away, his voice slightly muffled as he buried himself further in the tree to get a better grip.

I probably should have tried harder… but there goes the saying, sometimes you realize you should have done something before it was too late.

. . . . . . .

Needles were scattered everywhere, and the scent of freshly cut evergreen overtook the inside of my parents' house. It was like a bomb made of tree hit the house, which was pretty much what happened. Mom was already beginning to sweep up the pine needles that fell onto the ground, while Dannen and Dad were scouting the attic to bring down the ornaments. After a couple of boxes filled with lights and brightly colored decorations, my dad grabbed hold of one of the bigger boxes, filled with just the lights, and looked up at me.

Briefly, I watched as a couple of my parents' many cats, Gus Gus and Purrchowski, came to investigate the tree. Overall though, I assume the rest of the cats, and Ginger for that matter, were upstairs chilling.

"I'm going to try and put the lights on the house," Dad said. "You and Dannen can start decorating the tree."

"Are you sure you don't need help with that?" I asked, realizing that putting up the lights on the house was going to be a lot of work.

"I think I'll be fine," Dad responded, and then departed outside. I could hear after a few moments Dad fumbling with the garage door, and then after a while, and from out the window, noticed him dragging a big ladder out with him. He was pretty persistent this year, which was more than okay for me.

I swiped my hands together and took a look at the boxes that were brought down. "Let's get started then," I said to my brother. It was only when I grabbed the set of lights for the tree did I hear Dave's communicator go off. It wasn't a cell phone, but it was something that he had been wearing under his coat the last few days to stay in touch with his henchmen. I knew the moment of him actually using it was inevitable.

"Excuse me for a moment," Dave spoke aloud, and went around the hall. I couldn't really hear what he was saying but I heard a few things slip his mouth that seemed fairly urgent.

"Daisy, Ridley, I need you to come and get me if that's the case. This needs to resolve immediately." He had a sort of concentrated, serious tone to his voice. Obviously something was very much wrong. I hadn't realized it but I was just standing there, with the lights in my arms, listening as hard as I could. Despite this I couldn't hear everything else. It was only a matter of seconds after that did he return from around the corner hall and approached me.

"Kailey, my henchmen need me right now for… for some news concerning our business!" He tried to seem chipper, but I was so dead set on the fact something was wrong that this didn't faze me. "I'm going to run back to headquarters and try to get things settled."

"Don't you want me to come?" I asked, raising a brow, but tried my best to not seem to suspicious. I was waiting for him to tell me himself, and didn't want to force it from him.

"Of course not! I couldn't ask that from you!" Dave responded. "You have family here that wants to see you. I'm sure I can handle this myself, don't you worry. I'll be back as quickly as I can."

"If you say so…" I responded softly. Dave walked over and kissed my forehead, and then wrapped his arms around me in another long hug. He sighed midway into the hug, his grip tightening ever so slightly, and then he reluctantly let go. He managed to push out another soft smile before he walked out the door.

I was sad that he didn't even get to see my kitties… but then again I guess that wasn't necessarily a good thing considering his hatred for cute animals. But… eh…. I don't know. Again, I probably had another chance to get in his face about it, but like before, that chance slipped from me. I could only hope that things were really as 'okay' as he said they were.

. . . . . . .

After a good few hours Mom, Dannen and I finally got the tree together. It was tall, grand and beautiful, and very much more so than usually considering the setting. Dannen started bringing the empty boxes back upstairs to stuff in the attic as Mom switched gears and headed into the kitchen to heat up some Thanksgiving leftovers to serve for dinner. Dad was still well at work outside, but even from inside I could tell his progress on the lights was already significant.

The sun was starting to grow dim. A little by little, some of the neighborhood streetlights began to flicker on, although their light not nearly as bright in comparison to the setting sun.

"Hopefully this isn't one of those trees where all the needles falls off," I heard Mom huff in the kitchen. "It lost a lot of needles already trying to get it in the house!"

"I'm sure it will be fine," I answered. I felt kind of hyper-aware of the word 'fine' spilling from my lips. I was being overdramatic, I'm sure.

"It's too bad Octavius had to leave though," Mom said. "I know having leftovers isn't all that grand, but it would have been nice to get to talk to him without the grandparents here."

"I know," I signed. "But we have the rest of the holidays to do that."

"Are you sure he'll be back before Christmas?"

"It's still a ways away; I'm sure he'll be back."

"I hope so," Mom confirmed. I heard a few dishes clink in the kitchen from Mom getting them out of the cabinet, but overall the house was quiet again. "Dannen, why don't you go outside and help your father?" she asked next.

Dannen huffed a little, being the immature person he was despite looking like he was well into adulthood (which he was, but looking like it and not acting like it mean different things), and went outside to help Dad with the lights. This only added to that sense of bareness to the house.

I stared long and hard at the Christmas tree. Underneath all the multicolored ornaments, some new and some old and of all different figures, the white lights sparkled, reflecting onto the decorations and through the red and gold ribbon, bringing briefly a sense of relief. But always, in between my moments of relief, I couldn't help but worry. Dave was gone. And for a reason I didn't know. Who knows, maybe it was all okay like he said. He could very well be checking up on the investors, or even had the QCUs green lit and was working on manufacturing and distribution. _But then again…_

At that moment my phone started to vibrate. I was instantly pulled from my train of thought, and reached into my pocket and took a look at the number. It was from Jennifer Lao, one of the investors I put into my contacts. I felt my heart sigh as I put the phone to my ear. _Dave was right! The investors! Yay!_

"Hello, you're speaking to Kailey," I answered.

"Hello, Ma'm, I'm calling on behalf of myself and the other investors involved in your QCUs," Ms. Lao began. "I was unable to contact Dr. Brine and so I wanted to direct this message to you."

 _Unable to contact Dr. Brine, what was she talking about?_

"Yes, go on?" I responded carefully. I was trying to stay calm, but I was already in a position where a red flag was practically flying in my face.

"Yes, we have good news. Some companies have already made investments for the QCUs, including Volvo and Mazda. Other companies of its likeness have opted out, but to make up for that, we have a few large energy companies investing. Because of this flux of demand, we will be beginning production of the QCU's in no less than April of the coming year."

" _April!?_ " I gasped. Do you ever get that feeling in your chest when you see, say, you made a horrifically bad grade on your progress reports in school? You could very well be making A's and B's in all your other classes, but that one large, middle-finger of an F shoots you in the face like one of those little shits at recess? Yeah, that. This was almost the same thing, only my GPA wasn't the one that was about to be affected, but my life, practically. Same thing? Almost.

"But, that's not until late spring…" I muttered. This fell out of my mouth uncontrollably. Ms. Lao seemed to grow confused on the other line, even though I couldn't actually see her.

"Well… yes, April is indeed springtime," she answered. "We will beginning production of the QCUs by your main headquarters in New York, starting immediately after Christmas. We'll be keeping a careful eye on income to determine when the right time will come to begin building other manufacturing plants elsewhere."

"Yeah… yeah, great!" I tried to sound enthusiastic. "Yes, please keep up the good work, and thank you for your efforts!"

Before Ms. Lao could answer me I pulled my cell away from my ear and ended the call. I was staring wide-eyed at the screen.

" _Sss_ hit," I spat out loud, the 'sss' at the beginning coming out with more emphasis and delay than the rest of the word. This caught my mother's attention from the kitchen.

"Kailey? Is everything okay?"

"Everything is wonderful, Mom," I answered, trying my hardest to get that fake statement out from between my teeth. _Where the hell was Dave, dammit! The second I let my guard down something goes wrong! What did she mean when she said she wasn't able to contact him?! He literally left only a few hours ago, I just saw him!_

Suddenly, my phone went off again, this time catching me by surprise. My hands fumbled for a second, and then for a split moment I lost the grip on the phone, and briefly tried catching it again as it tumbled down a couple inches, but luckily, landed right back in my palms.

This time, it was an unknown number. Out of desperation, I answered, taking into consideration it was Dave's communicator trying to reach me.

"Hello?" I answered. I held my breath.

 _"Hyakkk—Hyaakkhaha! Hyaha—Hahaykkhakk!"_

That horrific laughter. That annoying, evil, dreadful laughter that I recognized as none other than the damned dolphin we received a call from on Halloween, spilled from the phone and into my ears like some kind of sick ass, I don't even know what! I could only stand there, motionless and helpless, as I prepared myself to listen to what he had to say.

"Kailey! This is simply a courtesy call," Dr. Blowhole exclaimed. "I have taken Dave into my custody for not paying me what he owes. Nobody gives Dr. Blowhole the slip! Never!"

"Kailey, do you mind doing the cat boxes?" Mom asked from the kitchen, completely catching me more off guard than I already was. I had to ignore her for a moment to properly try and digest what was happening on the phone.

"You have until dawn tomorrow to pay me on his behalf. Otherwise, you, that pathetic octopus, your company, and all your successes will fail!"

"Kailey! Did you hear me? I need you to do the cat boxes, Purrchowsky took a really stinky poop!"

"I HEARD YOU MOM, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" I couldn't help but yell back to try and shush her. This caused Dr. Blowhole to become silent for a moment on the other line.

"Like I said, you have until tomorrow. Pay up, or never see him again! Ha!" The line was cut, this time on his end. That was it. That was all I got.

"Mom, I've got to go!" I hollered then.

"Please do the cat box first though?"

"Fine!" I huffed. I was going to do what she asked me, then go save Dave's ass. Hopefully.

. . . . . . .

I had managed to get everything I needed ready and prepared. To be honest though, almost everything. The only downside to this problem… _was that I didn't have 26 billion whatever dollars_ _._ Where the ever living hell was I supposed to get that much money? I wasn't, that's what! There was literally no way I could get that much freaking money in less than 24 hours! What kind of asshole is this?!

Although, yes, Dr. Blowwad was an asshole, I tried reasoning with myself, and with the situation. I mean, he did say we'd have until the end of November to give him the money. And he didn't actually kidnap Dave until December, so he was acting well over his deadline. My results, considering all this, was that perhaps he did have some amount of moral reason to his… whatever, he does.

I took a good hard look at what was leftover in my personal bank account. Just under ten thousand was all I had, and that was mostly accumulation of student loans I luckily never had to spend and was prepared to give back to the government, but… I guess when you need the money you need it. I was hoping by giving Blowhole at least that amount (which was like not even a fraction of what Dave actually owed him) the dolphin would see my sincerity and maybe give us more time to pay him back. _Yeah, let's just go with that because that's literally all I had._

I wrote out a personal check, folded it in half, and shoved it in my back pocket. With only the clothes on my back, and my own determination, I was gonna catch a taxi to the nearest chopper port and meet with Penny, who would be picking me up in one of Dave's helicopters. The sad thing was, I hadn't even actually told my parents I was leaving. But I'm sure they'd understand. Running Octo Corp isn't as easy as it looks, you know!

I walked out of my house and looked next door. My dad was still on the ladder, even well past the sunset, putting up those Christmas lights. I felt my heart sink again as I briefly watched him, realizing that, yet again, I would have to leave my family. For a brief moment I had everything (minus the shitty debates during Thanksgiving). And now, I was about to venture off, for who knows how long.

In the back of my head I kept giving myself a deadline. _I'll be back before Christmas!_ I claimed again and again. _Everything will be taken care of. It'll work out. It always has!_

I took a step onto the concrete driveway, and realized I was hearing the sound of sirens. It was only a matter of time before I saw the lights of those sirens on the backs of a couple police cars. I figured they'd just drive on by, but the further they got to me the more I began to realize they were very much coming here. Right in front of my house. Behind them even were a couple media cars, and the instant they pulled up onto my driveway and curb, news crews, and four freaking cops, rushed up to me.

The cops grabbed me before I could even react, and the media was snapping pictures at me left from right, blinding me in the process. A significant amount of chatter begun to fill my ears: tones of questions, concerns, debates even! But the one statement I heard as clear as day…

" _Kailey, you are under arrest for the endangerment of the state's public zoos and their penguins._ "

I was speechless. I had no idea what was going on. I watched as my dad flew from the ladder and rushed over, my mom and brother following quickly after. They were trying to break the media crowd, and the cops, but it was no use.

"Kailey!" I heard them cry. "What's happening!?"

 _I don't know_ , I thought. I was so tongue-tied you could have assumed I was a mute. My mind was racing so fast I don't think I heard anything else after that.

I was soon cuffed, dragged away into one of the police cars, and then the door slammed shut, muffling the media outside, but also cutting me off from my family. I was now separated from my family, and from Dave…

 _What am I gonna do now?_


End file.
